:CM
CO
Parry-Williams, Thomas Herbert
Some points of similarity
in the phonology of .Welsh Jand
Breton
PB
2128
f\P 37
Some Points of Similarity
IN THE
Phonology of Welsh and Breton
VON
T. H. PARRY-WILLIAMS
aus Rhyd-ddu, Carnarvon.
PARIS
LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE HONORE CHAMPION, EDITEUR
EDOUARD CHAMPION
5, QUAI MALAQUAIS (6e)
191 3
Telephone Gobelins 28-20.
Some Points of Similarity
IN THE
Phonology of Welsh and Breton
VON
T. H. PARRY-WILLIAMS
aus Rhyd-ddu, Carnarvon.
PARIS
LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE HONORE CHAMPION, EDITEUR
EDOUARD CHAMPION
5, QUAI MALAQUAIS (6e)
1913
Telephone Gobelins 28-20.
LEBENSLAUF
Ich, Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams, wurde in Rhyd-ddu,
Carnarvon, am 21 September 1887 geboren. Vom September
1899 bis Juli 1905 besuchte ich Portmadoc County School.
Dann wurde ich an der University of Wales (Aberystwyth)
immatrikuliert, an welcher ich im Jahre 1908 als B. A. gra-
duierte. Daselbst blieb ich noch ein Jahr. Von September
1909 bis Juni 1911 studierte ich am Jesus College, Oxford,
an welchen ich als M. A. (Wales) und B. Litt. (Oxon.)gra-
duierte. Im November 1911 bezog ich dann die Universitat
Freiburg i.Br. Dort studierte ich bis zum Fnihjahr 1913. Ich
horte die Vorlesungen der folgenden Herren Professoren und
Dozenten Brie, Kieckers, Kluge, Schulz und Thurneysen.
Es ist mir Bediirmiss an dieser Stelledem Referenten Herrn
Geh. Hofrat Professor Dr. Thurneysen meinen aufrichtigen
Dank fur die Forderungmeiner Arbeit auszusprechen.
SOME POINTS OF SIMILARITY
IN THE
PHONOLOGY OF WELSH AND BRETON
INTRODUCTION
In this paper an attempt has been made to classify, as far
as was possible, the points of similarity in the phonological
development of Welsh and Breton, as they appear in these
languages since the time of the separation of the Bretons in
the 5th. -7 th. centuries1. The majority of the various chan-
ges naturally comprises those of the Middle and Modern
periods of both languages. The written documentary remains
of the earlier period (8 th.-9 th. centuries) of Welsh, Cor-
nish and Breton possess so close a resemblance to each other
as to lead at first to the supposition that they belonged to one
branch only, until Bradshaw pointed out the criteria by which
they could be distinguished 2.
Some of the phenomena here noted date from an earlier
period (as, e. g., § i), others appearing for the first time
later in continuous texts and in isolated words from the Bre-
ton Charters. Most of the peculiarities of phonology to which
reference is made, date, however, from the middle and later
periods, In some cases both languages in the middle period
offer certain particular points of resemblance which disappea-
red later in the course of further development from one or
both languages (as, e. g., § 9).
1. For a full discussion of the emigration of the Bretons to Brittany see
Loth. L'emigration bretonne en Armorique dn Vs au VII* sicch de notre ere,
Paris, 1 88 3. See also Zimmer, Auf welchem IVeg kcunen die Goidelen vom
Kontinent nach Irland} (Berlin, 1912), pp. 13-17.
2. For these see Loth, op.cit., p. 89.
PARRY- WILLIAMS. — These, l
2 Pa rry- Williams .
A noteworthy feature of both languages is the treatment of
borrowed Romance words, and in this respect a comparati-
vely wide field of investigation is afforded by the fact that
both borrowed without restraint from their neighbours.
Numerous dialect peculiarities have been noted . For the Bre-
ton dialects, the various articles which haved appeared from
time to time in the volumes of the Revue Celtiqm, as well as
the grammars of the Breton dialects, have been taken as
authorities for the remarks made thereon in the paragraphs
in which they occur. Various Welsh and Breton texts and
dictionaries to which access could be found, have been
perused, as will be noted from the list of abbreviations.
It has been deemed simpler to arrange the examples accor-
ding to the nature of the peculiarity they illustrate, and
not according to the date of their appearance or their place in
the historical development of the languages.
CONTENTS
I. — Vowels, §§ i- 10.
Initial vowel before sp, st, sk. — Change and interchange of
vowels. — Swarabhakti-vowels. — > Syncope of vowels.
II. — Diphthongs, §§ 11-14.
Diphthongization of simple vowels. — Diphthongization of
vowels before g(e, ch(e. — ai of loanwords. - oi of loan-
words.
§ 15. Simplification of Diphthongs.
§ 1 6. Contraction of Vowels and Diphthongs.
§ 17. Haplology.
III. — Consonants, §§ 18-83.
§§ 18-24. Changes in initial Consonants.
§ 25. Changes in medial Consonants.
§§ 26-29. Changes in final Consonants.
§§ 30-48. Other Consonantal changes.
§§ 30-33. Initially, §§ 34-48. Medially and finally.
§§ 49-61. Addition of Consonants .
4 Parry -Williams.
§§ 49-51. Prothesis; §§ 52-55. Epenthesis ; §§ 56-61.
Epithesis.
§§ 62-80. Loss ot Consonants.
§§62-64. Initially; §§65-72. Medially; §§73-80. Finally.
§ 81. Metathesis.
§ 82. Some exceptional Cases of Mutation (aspirate and
nasal) in Breton corresponding to Welsh.
§ 83. Palatalisation of Consonants in Welsh and Breton.
ABBREVIATIONS
A. /. C. L. = Archiv. fur celtische Lexicographic.
B. Ciusc. -- Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsc (ed. J. Morris
Jones).
Br. == Breton; M. Br. == Middle Breton ; O. Br. == Old
Breton.
Br. GL = Old Breton Glosses (Stokes), Calcutta 1879.
Br. GL O. = The Breton Glosses at Orleans (Stokes),
1886.
C. Coch. Mss. == The Cefn Coch Mss. (Fisher).
Cym. LUn Cymr. = The publications of Cymdeithas Lien
Cymru.
D. G. = Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym (Jones and
Owen,
E. — English ; M. E. == Middle English ; O. E. = OldEn-
glish; N. E. = New English.
E. E. P. = Early English Pronunciation (Alexander J. Ellis).
Fr. = =• French ; O. Fr. == Old French.
/. Goch = Gwaith lolo Goch (Charles Ashton).
Indg. Forsch. = Indogermanische Forschungen.
L. Ch. = Loth's Chrestomathie bretonne; L. Ch. = (M. Br.
Chart.) = The Middle Breton Charters given in L. Ch.
L. Ch. (V.). = Vocabulary to L. Ch.
L. E (JEf.). = Lexique etymologique des termes les plus usuels
du breton nioderne, par V. Henri.
Le Gon. = Le Gonidec's, Dictionnaire fran^ais-breton.
L, G. C. = Gwaith Lewis Glyn Cot hi.
Le Clerc = Grammaire bretonne du Dialecte de Treguier, par
1'abbe Le Clerc.
Lib. Land. = Liber Landavensis (The Book of Llanddv).
M. Br. H. — Middle Briton Hours (Stokes).
6 Pa rry- Williams .
Mab. — The Mabinogion (Rhys and Evans, Oxford).
M. A. = TheMyfyrian Archaiology of Wales.
M. Br. (E.) = Ernault's Dictionnaire etymologique du breton
moyen, at the end of his edition of Le Mystere de Sainte Barbe.
Medd. Mydd. = Meddygon Myddfai (Welsh Mss. Society).
O. Ir. —Old Irish.
Fed. = Pedersen's Keltische Graminatik (vol. I) ; Fed. II
= id. Vol. II.
R. C. = Revue Celtique.
R. B. H. = The Red Book of Hergest (Rhys and Evans).
Tr. =Troude's = Nouveau dictionnaire frangais et breton.
V. and Vann. = Vannes. V. (Ch.) and Vann. (Ch.) =
Chalons, Dictionnaire breton-franfais du diocese de Vannes.
Treg. = Treguier.
W. = Welsh; M. W. = Medieval W. ; O. W. - Old
Welsh; N. W. = North Wales ; S. W. = South Wales;
W . S. = Wiliam Salesbury's Welsh-English Dictionary.
W. Llyn. ~ Barddoniaeth Wiliam Llyn (J. C. Morrice).
VOWELS
1. — In W., both in native and in borrowed words, the
initial consonantal groups sp, st, sk, developed, presumably
in the M.W. period, a prothetic vowel, as was the case in
late Latin and further in French and Italian. The rule in
Welsh is the exception in Breton ; in the former branch the
vowel is invariably y (== i), but the few examples in point in
Breton show a variation. The supposed cases of this in
Breton are O. Br. esceilenn I (gl. cortina), regarded as being
cognate with Mod . Ir. sgail. sgdile, 'shadow', where the prothe-
tic vowel is e, and O. Br. istomid2 (gl. trifocalium), cognate
with W. ystefaig, where the vowel appears as i. It is remar-
kable that the language which first shows traces of it should
drop it altogether, whereas the other, with no vestiges of it
in its earliest forms, made such cases of prothesis its general
rule.
In M. Br. there appears a word ascolenn 'thistle' (W. ysgal-
hn, Cornish askellen, Vann. oskalen) which is regarded as
being identical with O. Br. seal (gl. carduumque). This a,
however, with the a in the Cornish word, seems to be a
doubtful case.
Traces of the same tendency possibly appear in the variant
forms of the M. Br. words start and squeut (Mod. Br. stard,
skeud). In M. Br. (E.) there is an early form estart, but it is
counted in the verse as one syllable ; and the Vann. (Ch.)
form ofM. Br. squeut seems to be esquet or hesquet.
In Mod. W., when the accent foils on the third syllable
1. Berne Glosses.
2. In the O. Br. Charters, see L. Ch., p. 142. It is suggested (ibid.,
p. 525) that it is to be read iscomid, and a W. esgemydd is compared.
8 . Parry-Williams.
from the beginning of a word, the tendency is to drop the
regular prothetic^, e. g. sgrifennu or scrifennu for ysgrifennu
cto write', sgolhaig for ysgolhaig 'a scholar'. In the Mod. W.
dials, the tendency is to drop the y in all cases, except when
it is accented, e. g. ysgub 'a broom, besom' but sgubo 'to brush
with a besom', ysitim*'form, pose' butstumiau 'grimaces', etc.
2. — Original / appears in Mod. W. asjy, i. e. when unaf-
fected by a following pre-historicrt, in which case it becomes e.
In Cornish and Br. it appears generally as e (Cornish having
y in some cases). The O. Br. had however, forms in i where
O. W. would also have/. There are also in O. Br. traces of e
from i due to the feminine a- ending, the forms uuin (masc.)
and uuen (fern.) being found side by side in the 9th. c. See
R. C. 8 pp. 1 68 sqq.
The indecision with regard to the fate of early i is apparent
in W, and Br., especially in the various dials, and in the
loanwords of both languages. The Q. W. i has many forms
in M. W., i, e, y and y (i and e being found as a rule in the
earlier M. W. texts though later such forms as brodyr, broder;
llythyr, llyther ; Merchyr, Mercher1, are fairly common). In the
Mod. W. dials, again we meet withsuchs formsas ene foryna,
dene for dyna, Dinbech for Dinbych, ydrach for edrych. The Mod.
W. forms have generally y, though in the literary language
words like ennill for ynnill, gwerydd for gwyryf also occur. Cf .
also Mod. W. gresyn, M. W.gryssyn (glyssyn).
M. Br. has forms with / (rare) and e corresponding to the
/-forms of O. Br., e. g. L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart.) Ems- and
Inisian, W. ynys; cf. Hytherguent, with hyther = hedr, he%r of
M. Br.
Later in the Mod. Br. dials, we find fluctuations. The dial,
of Vann. has very often a predilection for /, wrhere the dial,
of Leon has e, e. g. Vann. bihue, ivein, ini% (iniss), pisk, gwi-
nir, stirenn for Leon beo, eva(ff)y ene^, pesk, gwener, sterenn.
This, however, may be a late change. For the change of e to
/ in the Vann. dial, of Sarzeau See R. C. 3, p. 47; and in
the dial, of Quiberon, R. C. 16, p. 325.
i . Mercber may owe its final -er to.Gwener .
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 9
A parallel but reverse change is apparent in the case of many
loanwords in W. and Br. In W. we get the e of Romance
words appearing as y, (a) Pretonic : dyfosiwn 'devotion' B.
Cwsc (W. S. has defosiwn, as commonly in Mod. W.), dyciae
'decay' ; (b) Post-tonic : kweifyr sayethe 'a quevar' W. S.,
M.E. quiver ; cweryl. M. E. querel(e\ dagyr (W. S.) 'dagger';
— myn as plur. of. E. -- man in porthmyn, iemyn, etc. ; tocyn
' token' ; Ystyvyn (R. B. #.) 'Stephen' ; (c) accented e > y
before n, r, s : bryst M- E. bresle, trysor M. E. tresor, syrkyn
M.E. jerkyn, syndal 'sendal'.
In Br. also the e of French words appears occasionally as
y before.? or ;/ : na ystiman netra ' je n'estime rien' R. C. 25,
p. 340; d'am yscusim rde m'excuser', R. C. 25, p. 106; ynte-
ret 'enterre', R. C. 27, p. 22. Cf. also marichal 'marechal',
R. C, 3, p. 196 ;ar re yminantan 'les plus eminents', R. C. 26
p. no.
3. --In the various Brythonic languages original u appears
as an u- sound in some cases, and as o in others. As a rule
W. has lu except when a long a originally followed (in which
case in appears as o). The same rule applies to Br., the u-
forms being predominant ; but in some of the early forms as
well as in some of the Mod. dials, o is found side by side
with the n- form. On the other hand, the rule in Cornish
demands the o- form.
The same variation appears in loanwords from Lat. In cer-
tain cases the Lat. 6 has the o and u- forms in W. as well as
in Br. :
Lat. sonus, W. swn, son ; Br. sotm, son;
Lat. pond us, W. pwn ; Lat. cdlumba, W. colomen, Br. koulm.
Again, originals in some words develops into a u- sound
in W.' and Br. :
W. twrch, Br. lourch, O. Ir. tore', W. iwrch, Br. iourch,
Cornish yorch.
The Br. ounnen (W. onnen 'ash-tree') is regarded as being
merely a dialectal pronunciation (Vendryes, R. C. 30,
p. 209).
The following are exs. of the intermingling of o- and u-
io Parry-Williams.
forms in W. and Br. in native and borrowed (Lat.) words :
M. Br. brout (Mod. Br. brand, O. Br. brot, W. brwcf)
' ardent ' ; con, coun ( W. cw n ' dogs ') ; cof(f), couff (W. cof
'memory'); cogant, cougant (W. ceuganf) ( certain'; colon,
calaoun (W. colon ' heart ') ; crouc (W. crog ' cross '), crom
(adj.) * bent', croumaf ' to bend' (W. crwm, crymu); go^aff,
gou%aff(W. goddef ' to suffer') ; dorn ' hand ' (Mod. Br. Leon
dourn, W. dwrn 'fist'), yot (Vann. tout, W. uwd) ; loncaff,
louncaff (W. llyncti); rodoed, roudoe^ (W. rhodwydd); Sadorn,
Sadourn (W. Sadwrn)\ ton, 'toun (W. ton 'tone, tune ') ; arch-
diagon, archdiagoun (Mod. Br. arriagon, W. archddiagon,
archiagon)\ moch (Mod. Br. mouch, W. mocV).
The M. Br. Charters (L. Ch". ) have colloch, callouch; goni-
doc (M. Br. also gounidec, W. giueinidog, ; hocb, houcb (W.
hwcti) ; moalcQj), moualch (W. mwyalcti) ; jow/J (O. Br. $0/f,
W. Jtt////) ; cf. O. Br. rot (gl. (a)eruginem, W. rhwd 'rust').
Mod. Br. \\zshont (W. huwf); blonec, blounfac(W. bloneg).
In the Mod. Br. dials, the o and u- forms fluctuate conside-
rably. For a list of words having o in Leon and ou in Vann.;
words having o in Vann. and in the Cntholicon, but ou in
Leon, see R. C.i, p. 215. See also ibid, list of words having
o in Leon but u (i. e. u) in Vann. These exs. have w in W.
See also note in R. C. 16, p. 186.
In the Romance loanwords in W. and Br, the cases in this
category to be dealt with are those containing a short close o.
This seems to appear in W. invariably as u (written w), in
Br. mostly as u (written ou) aud occasionally as o side by
side with the ou (cf. Meyer-Liibke, Grammatik der romanischen
Sprachen, I, p. 133 ' Im Westen wird o vorNasalen zu ou, u;
so schreiben die mittelalterlichen Urkunden und Handschrif-
ten '). Exs. in point from Br. are :
M. Br. (E.) courtes, cortes 'courtois'j/owrm, furm ' forme',
tourmant l torment', noundenn, monden, mundain ' mondain'.
L. CJi. (F.) has coutige ' conge' (iyth. c.), countradou * contrats '
(lyth. c.), milioun ' million' (iyth. c). Le Gon. rond, round
' rond ', Tr. loud, lod (Vann. lot) Mot'. Cf. R. C.2, p. 196
ar masouner' le mac,on', p. 214 Kleier Fouesnant a respount
Mes cloches de F. repondent', R. C. 5, p. 192 Lost ar c'hog
er poud fla queue du coq dans le pot '.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. n
The cases among the Romance borrowings in W. are very
numerous. As already mentioned W. has w . The M. E. and
Fr. forms have sometimes o, sometimes u and sometimes both,
in words where W. has only w. The sound in E. and Fr.
was probably between the high-back-round and the mid-back-
round, or really an extra-labialised o- sound. As a rule in
Norman-Fr. the fluctuation was between o and u, shoving
the doubtful nature of the sound ; but generally Norman-Fr.
has // to correspond to the o of O. Fr. Exs. in W. : barwn
' baron ' M.E. baron, barun, baronn, O. Fr. barun, -on-, backwn
twrch' bacon' (W. S.) M. E. and early N. E. bacoun, bakon,
O. Fr. bacon, crwper ' crupper' M. E. croper(e, later croupere,
O. Fr. cropiere; tnvinp ' a trump, trumpet 'M.E. trompe, trumpe
Fr. trompe ; and many others.
Further, in M. E. there are words having o- and u- forms,
whereas the Fr. forms are confined to u. This arose from a
general confusion in M. E. and early N. E. between o and u, o
being sometimes used for u merely as an orthographical
device to avoid confusion when the u of O. E. came in con-
tact with certain letters in MSS. It was originally a device ot
Fr. (see Horn, Historische Neuenglische Grammatik, Vol. I,
P-9)-
Again, wehave pro ofs of the o- timbre of the-w-sounds of M.
E. and early N. E. French writers of the 1 6th. and iyth.cs. com-
pare E. u with their native Fr. o- sound (see Horn, Untersu-
chungen %ur Netiengliscben Lautgeschichte, chap. 4). Hence wre
may gather that the early E. short o had a ' close ' quality in
some cases, and that the E. short u had likewise an ' open '
quality under certain circumstances.
Moreover, some words having only a- forms in E. appear
in W. with w, e. g. cnoc ' pail ' (W. S. crwch), E. crock, M. E.
krocke; ciut ' a cot', M. E~cot, O. Fr. cot, iwmon (W. S.) (pi.
humyn, as in Hywell Swrdwal, who has iwmynri) c a yeo-
man ' ; M. E. yom-an ; siund, sivnt f sand', M.E. sond(e ; walwrt
'wall-wTort ', M.E.-itw/.
So, whereas in W. loanwords the forms generally accepted
are the w- forms, in Br. we find traces of both forms, as
seen from the above exs.
12 Parry-Williams.
W. however, is not without its exs. of fluctuation :
botivn, botwn, bwtzun, botwm 'a button ', D. G., p. 37.
Nid ananwyl dwyn anerch | O fotymau siamplau serch.
C. Charlymaen, p. 50, has bwttwn,and this is also the mod.
Gwentian form by the side of Venedotian bwtium (botwni), M.
E. botoun,botone, O. Fr. boton,M.od. Fr. bouton \clwpa, clopa ca
club ', M. E. clobbe, clubbe ; comffordd ' comfort ', comffyrddus
(cyjjyrddus), ( comfortable' (W . S. has mmffwrth ' conforte',
kwnffwrddio ' to counforte '); concwest ( conquest ' and kwnkwest
(W. 5.), O. Fr. conquest^; also concwerio and cwncwerio i to
conquer'.
Note. — There are, of course, in W. many loanwords from
E. with the pure o- sound, without variations in w.
We have seen above how some Br. words have o in the
dial, of Leon (pu in other Br. dials.) but hm (i. e. u)m the
dial, of Vann. (jR. C. i, p. 215). This phenomenon may be
compared with the appareance in W. loanwords from E. of
u (i. e. W. ti) where we would regularly expect an w. In
these words we have, as a rule, a liquid or a nasal (/, m, n or
r) following the u, e. g. bulas by the side of bwlas, E. bullace
(early E. had o- and -u forms) ; buliwns in D. G., p. 432 by
the side of the commoner form bwliwns E. bullions ; burgyn ' a
carcase 'from E. morkin ; cut in D. G., p. 149 and in some
Mod. W. dials, by the side of out (the Common N. W. form),
E. cot ; sunt-ur ' c a kind of sundy gravel ', M. E. sonde 'sand '
cf. W. swnd\ sum (and swm) ( a somme ' (W. 5.), also in
D. G., p. 148, Mod. E. sum.
4. - - The interchange of a and0 is of common occurrence
in W. and Br. as in other languages.
a) The change of o to a appears in native words in the
forms developed from earlier guo (or still earlier iio-\ and is
supposed to be a case of delabialization after the labial u (see
Fed. § 26, 4), e. g. W. gwallofi ' to pour ', Ir. folam ' em-
pty ', W. gwasgod (earlier gwasgawd. as in Goronwy Owain)
'shelter, shade \Er.gwasked, Ir.foscad ; W. gwala (and iwala
i . Or possibly from E. cinder.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 13
1 enough, galore ') f enough ', Br. gwalch (and a walcld) ; Br.
gwalc'hi, W. gotchi, O. Ir. folcaim. Cf. W. diguadef in Lib.
Land., later dioddef ', gwared, O. Ir. fo-rethim ; gwadn, Ir.folba.
In Pembrokeshire gwagar is heard for the commoner gogr,
gogor c sieve '.
Corresponding to O. Ir. for there appears in M. W. a
form guar, e. g. in Lib. Land, guar ir hen rit ' above the old
ford'.
Occasionally the change appears in words borrowed from
Lat. : W. carrai (O. W. corrui), Br. korre-enn. Lat. corrigia ;
W. manach (nionach, mynadj), Br. manach, inonach, Ir. ma-
nach, Lat. monachus.
In some of the Mod. W. dials, (in parts of N. W. e. g.) o
tends to become a (often in connection with w) in such words
ascywad or auad = cyfod 'arise ', dwad = dyfod ' to come',
picwarch = pig-fforch ; tywad = tywod l sand ', gwman = guy-
mon c sea- weed ', paratoi - - parotoi ( to prepare ', Methadus
' Methodist'.
In addition to the exs. cited above, the following Br. forms
may be mentioned : M. Br. priadele^ ' marriage', cf. W.priod
' husband, wife ', priodi ' to marry ' Br. pried, priet £ spouse ' ;
M. Br. (E.) rigal, rigol ( rigole ' ; Vann. (Ch.) sam ' somme,
voiture ', spatulamancc ' spatulomancie ' in R. C. 12, p. 383 ;
vacabant ( vagabond ' in R. C. n, p. 310, but vacabont
on p. 308. The last two exs. may be due to vowel assimi^
lation.
b) The opposite change of a to o is, however, much com-
moner in W. and Br.
It is found in some Lat. loanwords, e. g. W.mortbwyl (and
dial, marthwl), Br. mor%pl, Lat. marlellus ; Br. korai^(W.
Y Garawyi), Lat. Quadragesima.
It appears also in some native words, in W. mostly in the
dials, e. g. N. W. afol=afal * apple ' ; gofol = gofal, ' care ';
diofol = diofal ' careless ' ; S. W. grondo = gwrando ' listen '.
Cf. Mod. W. etp for M. W. etwa; Mod. W. o (prep.) and o
(vocative particle) for M. W. a ', Br. a.
i. InM! W. the forms a and o occur, and are probably two originally
separate prepositions.
1 4 Parry -Williams.
In Br. the following may be instances of the change, M. Br.
(E.) onnoer(annoer}, dim. onneric (W. anner)', hogos (W. agos
' near'); hoguen (hougueri)/ but ' (W. hagen)', holen ' salt '
(W.halen, V. (Ch.) Mine, baton)-, torr < belly', O. Br. tar,
Ir. tarr. Cf. huoniq ' sun ', R. C. 16, p. 21 2 (W. huan) ; Treg.
momm, pi. mommo ' mother', Tr. (W. mam). Vann. has amo-
mn, M. Br. amanen (W. ymenyn) ; 0W7&, £•#;•/£ = gavrik (L.
Ch.). For other words in which the dial, of Vann. tends to
favour an o where the Leon dial, has a, see R. C. i, p. 89
sqq.
The same change is apparent in some loanwords from
Romance in W. and Br., the former having a goodly number
of exs.
In Br. : M. Br.(E.) dongerus ' degoutant ', << Fr. dangereux ;
orsaill ' batterie ', = arsaill, assaill, <C Fr. dssaillir ; strop
'estrep(etrape)'.
In W. : In the W. loanwords from E. cases of this change
are very frequent, and some of very early date. The alterna-
tion between a and o occurs also in E. itself at an early period.
The c back ' a of primitive Germanic was changed early to # ;
but an exception was that a before nasals was preserved, e. g.
lang, nama. There was a tendency to write this sound with o,
as long, noma. It is uncertain whether this o means really a
very broad a- sound. O. E. had probably the Mow' sound of
a (as in Fr. patte) before nasals, and possibly the o in noma etc.
is an attempt to indicate this broad, deep a- sound. It has also
been regarded as a labialized sound, a * low ' a with a slight
narrowing of the lips. But in O. E. the practice of ( rounding '
a before nasals disappeared, only to reappear later in M. E.
(see Sweet's History of English Sounds, p. 54).
Most of the W. exs. with o are probably from the M. and
N. E. periods. In the majority of cases E. had two forms, in o
and a, but we have, however, some instances where there do
not seem to be o- forms in E.,e. g. pesont, lytenont.
It is not before the nasals m, n, ng only that this o appears
in W., for we have traces of it before / and r.
A few W. exs. are :
blowmon (blewmon, blawmon), E. bloman, now obsolete ;
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 15
Englont (Inglont), c England ' ; Ysgotlont ( Scotland ' ; jjuslion
' fustian', also early E. fustion ; garland (garloni) l garland',
Early E. garland(e and garlond(e, -mon '-man ' in many words
hangman, porthmon, hengsmon, plismon, etc. ; lytenont (lijjtenant,
lutenant) ' lieutenant ' -,pesont ' peasant ' ; tenant ' tenant'; ram-
pant (rampauni) £ rampant ', Early E. rampaunt (Fr. rampant) ;
Roland ' Roland ' ; reiol ' real' ; deiol ' dial '. In W. dial, hospi-
tal , £ hospital ', special ' spectacles' (occurs also in B. Cwsc).
hongian ' hang ' Early E. hong-, hang- ; hansel ' a handsel ',
hansel', M. E. handsel, hanselle; marc * a mark (coin) ', M. E.
mark(e ; ongl 'angle'; pone ' a mound, hillock', E. bank,
M. E. banke, bonkke-, stand 'stand', M. E. partic. stonden, stan-
den ; rhonc ' rank (adj) ', M. E. ranc, ronke.
Whether the sound denoted by a and a in Early E. was a
pure o- sound may be a moot point, but there is no doubt
about the purity of the sound as an o in the W. representa-
tives of the E. words.
5. — The change of e to a in certain positions is of frequent
occurrence in W. and Br. This is evident in native as well as
borrowed words. Some very early examples are :
W. adar' birds', adain cwing', O. Br. attanoc (adj.), rt.
*pet--, M. W. adaued (later edau, edajedd) 'thread'; W.alarch
O. Cornish elerhc (cf. Ir. eld) ; W. Br. tan (O. Ir. tene)-, W.
dala (Mab., Kulhwch ac Olweri) ' sting' (O. Ir. delg).
The same change appears in Lat. loanwords in W. and Br.
(as well as in Cornish) ; W. sarph ' serpent ', O. Br. Bot-Sar-
phin ; W. Calan1 ( New Years Day ', M. Br. qualan ; W. car-
char, tafarn, Padarn, ystarnu, etc. (see Fed., § 124, 6).
As a rule the change takes place wrhen the e is followed
immediately by n, r (or /).
Cases in Br. :
In some cases in Br. this change seems to be a dial, pecu-
liarity, for we find in certain words that the dial, of Leon
favours the e- form whereas Vann. leans towards the a-
form.
These words have n, r or v following the vowel.
i. Late Latin, however, has also a form hilandae.
1 6 Parry-Williams.
Leon : kefniden, bemde^, kenderv, keniterv, mene^, ere, serch,
evil \ Vann. kanivedenn, bamde^, kanderv (canderhue), kaniterv
caniterhue), mane (manne), art, charj, aveit (see R. C. i,
P. 87).
For the change of er to ar in Br. in native and borrowed
words, see 7?. C. 25, p. 266; 26, pp. 65, 71, 73; 27, pp. 252.
Other exs. in Br. loanwords are (e before /, m, n, s) :
M. Br. (E.) ambuig ' embuches '; asquipet (O. Fr. esquiper)\
assaign ' enseigne'; astandart (O. Fr. estendard) ; garredon
(O. Fr. gu&.redon); kalander ' calendrier ' ; missal ' missel';
sarmant ( serment'; sarmon ' sermon'; talant1 (Lat. talen-
tum)-y vanaeson ' venaison' ; vandangaff (vendangaff) l vendan-
ger ' ; amaill ' email '.
Cf. further astennet f etendu ' (Lat. extend-ere), R. C. i,
p. 120; ampire ' empire', R. C. 25, p. 320 ; kanastel (O. Fr.
canestd), L. E. (HJ-, ritual' rituel Mr. ; dale1 delai '(i6th.c.)
L. Ch. (K.).
Cases in W. (generally before r, n, /) :
Note. — A somewhat similar change before r took place
in E. also, when e (open) followed by a final r or r + cons,
became a before the end of the M.E. period, e. g. sterre >
star, kerven >> carve. This change, however, was not univer-
sal in E.
W. adargop (adargop-we), O. and M. E. attercoppe. (The W.
form may be due to the influence of W. adar * birds *)',Adfant
' Advent' (in its special l Christian ' meaning); pwynlmant
' appointment' (E. (15 c.) pointrnent, ct. O. Fr. poyntement) ;
Siarom (in W . Llyri) ' Jerome ' ; Siaspar ( Jasper ' ; ffardial
' fardel ' ; ffristial, Early E. fritiellf ; tranket trenket, W. S. ;
Syvarn * Severn' (in L. G. C., p. 463, E savodd deutu
Syvarn). Cbwalcys in M. A., p. 324,? < M. E. wellies
1 whelks ' ; barnaisW. S. c varnish', M. E. vernysche (also W.
berneis, bernais).
Cf. S. W. aridd (erioed), Ma (hela, hel).
6. - - The mute or half-mute e in loanwords in W. and
Br. :
i. In O. Fr. also talant.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 17
The e in question is generally a final e, but exs. of medial
e are found.
The treament of the finals in Br. is manifold (see R. C. 8,
p. 526).
1) It falls offaltogether, Br. chas, Fr. chasse;
2) It becomes e, Br. finesse, Fr. finesse-, Br. chase, Fr.
chasse .
3) It becomes a, Br. finesa, Fr. finese; Br. promesa, Fr.
pioinesse; Br. blavcola, Fr. blaveoh.
In a few personal names it seems
4) To become #;7 in Treg., Annan, Barban (see R. C. 9,
P- 379)-
For the form -es of Fr. we find in Br. the ending es pre-
served, e.g. :
M. Br. (E.) baetes ' bettes' (Treg. boetes, for which seej?. C.
16, p. 220); botines 'bottines'; perles ' perles ' ; in R. C. 9,
p. 200 carotes ' carottes ', Cf. also M. Br. (E.) boles ' souliers '
(W.botas-au <C M. E. boles')', Mod. Br. almandes, almahles
for M. Br. almandes.
Note. -- There seems to be an ex. of s as plur. suffix in a
native word in R. C. 4, p. 66, meskanndmu ( au milieu des
epines ' (W. drain ' thorns ').
Cases of medial half-mute e are frequent in Br. ; it assumes
the form a as a rule.
L. C/;. (F.) Allamaign ' I'Allemagne '; M. Br. (E.) autra-
manl (and aulremanl) ' autremant ' ; paeamant, oignamant; M.
Br. mandamant, familiaramanl ; M. Br. (E.) has vanegloar
f vaine gloire ', but later (R. C. 9, p. 379) the from v&nagloar
is found. Further, we \\avegant ma halabarden c avec mahalle-
barde ', R. C. 25, p. 422 ;fasilamant ' facilement ', R. C. 6,
p. 84 ; kog a lur a lur ' le coq chante a la lurelure, R. C. 5 ,
p. 191 ; suramant ( surement', R. C. u, p. 61 ;fausamanl ' au
tort ', ^r.faussemenl • sakramant c sacrement ' Le Gon. ; comman-
damanl 'commandemant ', A.f. C. L. p. 218.
The treatment of the half-mute e in W. in the loanwords
from E. or Anglo-Fr. :
The final unaccented e of M. E. appears in W. in a num-
PARRY-WILLIAMS. — These, 2
1 8 Parry-Williams.
her of cases as a. As in the case of e in final unaccented syllabes,
this final e was an obscure sound in E. Indeed in final syllabes
this sound was not always denoted by e, but often (and espe-
cially in Wyclif's Bible) by y, i, u (? for u), e. g. mannis,
locus tus, opyn. (For more about this M. E. sound see Sweet's His-
tory of E. Sounds, p. 52). W. bicra (and bicre), M. E. bickre
'skirmish' (the W. word found in/,. G. C. and^. B. H., II,
p. 300); bwla ' bull'. M. E. bule (bole, bulle); cwpa (M.edd.
Mydd., p. 347) 'cup' O. and M. £. cuppe; ystola offeiriat
' stoole ', W. S. Mod. E. stole.
The M. E. plur. ending -es assumes in W. generally two
forms, -#jand -ys, indicating the obscure nature of the vowel.
botas (some kind of footwear ; also botys, both forms being
regarded as sing, in W. Cf. the Br. forms in -es above,, where
in M. Br. (E.) the sing, forms of the Fr. words are given as
equivalents ofthe Br. forms) ? M. E. botes\ cocas ' cogs (of a
wheel) ? M. E. cogges\ syartryssen in R. B. H. II, p. 335
' charters ' (W. having really a double plur. form); baedys
(? <C baedsys) L. G. C. ' badges ' ; cecys (W . S , has kekysseu
* keckes ') ; betys, M.E. betes ; ffigys ' figs ', M. E. fygges. Cf.
W. Charlas (R. B. H. II, p. 379) ' Charles ' ; Fflandrasl <
Flandres ' Flanders '. M. W. taplas(? < M. E. tables).
1. -- The change of a to e seems to occur occasionally in W.
and Br. :
Possible Br. exs. are :
L. Ch. (V.) ebar%(abar%) ; eman (a Vann. form) for aman\
etaw(atao) 'always'; de (da, poss. pron.) ; M. Br. (E.) has
mere ' marque ', reriq1 ' rang' (Vann. (Ch.) ranc, renc, pi. ran-
geu); scarleq (and squarlac) ' ecarlate ' ; L. E. (A.) gives
Vann. Us, M. Br. las < Fr. tas ; M. Br. (E.) squerb, Fr.
teharpe-, L. Ch. (F.) senclou9 Fr.sangle-s.
Some doubtful exs. in W. are :
Arres ' Arras' L. G. C. p. 105 ; brecwest ' breakfast' ; pineal
' pinnacle' (in W. Llyn) ; pitfel ca pytfall ', W. S.; berfa
i. O.fr. however, has renc.
Similarity in I he Phonology oj Welsh nnd tireton. {9
£ a barrow ', M. E. bar ewe, barwe ; dec 'clack ' ; rheng and rbenc
' row, rank ', and others.
Forms like W. passes, poles (' passage, pottage ') seem to
show the simplification of a diphthong. The E. -^generally
>> aes (or ais) in W., this in the above cases being monoph-
thongized to es.
Cf. M. Br. (E.) trecc or traescc, Mod. Br. tre%, ? <C Fr. /m^
If so, the series of changes would be ac(e ^> aes ^> es ^> e^.
The M. Br. chencbaff i changer' is another example. Cf. feccon
in R. C, 12, p. 167, by the side of faecon in R. C. 12, p. 33
senchc 'changer' of Mod. Br., and L. Cb. gress, grac^, gr&ce
4 grace '.
8. — The ' dulling' of im some words in W.and Br. :
M. Ernault in his review (R. C. 4, p. 465 sqq.) of' L'ori-
gine des voyelles et des consonnes du Breton moderne de
France (dialecte de Leon), par d'Arbois de Jubainville (Me-
moires de la Soc. delinguistique de Paris, t. IV, 3 e fasc., pp. 239,
272)' criticises the remark that i in some Br. words became
u (i. e. //) before n and r. The words bur^ud ' miracle ' (M.
Br. ber^ut, Vann. berbut) and munnd ' detail' (Vann. menut)
are, the says, no adequate proof of this change. He regards
them as exs. of regressive ' assimilation, and compares « Icon.
butun, petun,//^w, film, chonibu, moucherons., lugustr, ligus-
trum, mu^ur, mn^iil, mesure... » L'inverse a lieu en leon.
dans ftifull, fusil, en trecorrois lutun, lutin, iitul, utile ; en
vann. dans bngnl = bugel, berger... Le pet. Treguier nous
fournit, dans kicben, kitchen et kuchun, les trois degres par ou
ont du passer des mots tels que kurust, chorister, Tr&c.duvun,
devise; cornouaillais hurunat — cbouirnat, hennir. Ui se sera
d'abord change spontanement en u dans possubl, borrubl , ter-
rubl... »
But granting, however, that assimilation accounts for some
of the forms in n, there are others for which this explanation
does not hold good, e.g. the last cases mentioned above, pos-
subl, etc. And when we take kuchun, kurust, and duvun as exs.
of assimilation, there is then to be explained the appearance of
the first uy which came from i. Assimilation would not
2o Parry-Williams.
explain kuchen, *korustand *devun l (the two last being hypo-
thetical forms antecedent to kurust and duvufi).
A similar c6ange is to be found in W., where in many cases
we find u (or}') where we would regularly expect i. The pro-
nunciation of the u and y in W. would necessarily depend on
the period. This change of / to y (u) is seen more especially
in the W. loanwords from E. or Anglo-Fr. The c dulling ' of
the /-sound occurs mainly before /, n, r, s, which generally
have this effect on reighbouring vowels,, e; g. coblyn E. ' go-
blin '; awgrym, M. E, augrini \papur, papyr, M. E. papii ; ptn-
tus ' a pentice or penthouse ', M. E. pentis, pentys ; Snottul,
< Snodhill ', in L. G. C., p. 56; Suful, ? ' civil', in loloMSS.
p. 327; vuttlio ' to victual ', in C. Coch MSS., p. 41, M. E.
vitaille ; ffrynd ( friend', early E.frind(e ; huloc 'hyllocke ' (W.
5.) i. e. ' hillock'; munud (tnynud, munyd) ' a minute',
M. E. minute, mynut; mursen (earliest ex. in D. G.) ? <C E. vir-
gin \puslol 9 C. Coch. MSS., p. 71 and elsewhere, found even
in 1 6th. c., c a pistol ' ; punt ( a pint ', in Medd. Mydd.
9. -- Svarabhakti-Vowels in W. and Br. :
The development of a Svarabhakti-vowel is more peculiar to
W. than to Br. Indeed, it is generally regarded as quite foreign
to the latter, but Br. is not without traces of it even from the
earliest period, like W. itself. The prothetic vowel before s +
cons. (p. t. It), which is regular in W. from early times and
of occasional occurrence in O. Br. also, may be regarded as a
Svarabhakti-vowel (see § i).
But the commoner form of thus, viz. the insertion of a
vowel between certain consonants (the second being gen-
erally one of the liquids /, m, n, r) is operative to a consid-
erable extent in W., and is not entirely unknown to Br.,
although in the latter it is more of an exception than a rule.
Exs. from O. W. and O. Br. «are possibly O. W. cenitolaidou
gl. natalis, (M. W. kenedyl-, Mod. W. cenedfy, O. Br. datola-
ham (M. Br. datf, M. W. dadyl, Mod. W. dadl), O. W. tara-
ter (Mod. W. taradr).
In M. W. y was an extremely common epenthetic vowel,
and exs. of it are legion. By some this is not regarded as a
i. To duvun another antecedent form *duvin might be postulated.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 21
full vowel, -but as a sort of glide between the consonants.
Against this view may be adduced the form hoedel found in
the Mabinogion (Breuddwyd Maxen) 'hoedel nac einyoes nid
oes ida6 am danat'. Here we may have an ex. of the frequent
intercharge of e and y, as in Merchyr, Merchyr, brodyr, broder,
tlythyr, llyther. (See above §2.) The forms Cydywal, Dyfnawal,
Tudawal, by the side of the commoner Cydwal, Dyfnwal,
Tudwal appear at first sight to contain an epenthetic vowel,
but they may possibly be due to a variation in the seat of the
accent, which in these cases may have fallen on the composi-
tion-vowel. See Y Cymmrodor, Vol. XVIII, p. 7. Forms like
dala, hela, bola, holy by the side of dal, hel, bol may supply
exs. of epenthetic vowel between the / and the disappeard g.
Cf. data ca sting' in Culhwch ac Olwen, the O. Br. delg, and
gwyrf, gwerydd, by the side of gwyrf (virgo) ; also M. W.
kwryf, Mod. W. cwnu iromcwrtftf (O. Ir. coirm); M. Br.
delech for delch from delchell.
In words with final consonant-groups, of which the last
was /, m, n, or r, there were two possibilities of easing the
pronunciation. Either a vowel was developed between the
two last consonants, or the last consonant was dropped alto-
gether, this being fairly easy in the case of liquids. In W. (i.
e. in the spoken language and in the dialects generally, where
these charges more often take place) the rule seems to be, if a
charge be made at all, -
1) In monosyllables to insert a svarabhakti-vowel, gen-
erally of the same colour as that in the preceding syllable.
2) In dissyllabic and polysyllabic words to drop the final
liquid, because the addition of a vowel would necessitate the
shifting of the accent.
e.g. i) dial, cefen (cefn), ofon and of an (pfri), ochor (pchr),
cylyn (E. kiln), llyfyr (//)'/r), sicir (sicr), ystalwm (erstalm, M .
W. talyni); cwlwm, for * cwlm, is a literary form; in M. W.
clwm.
2) arad (aradr), pal ad (paladr^ vineg or vinag (vinegr ' vi-
negar'), Cydivalad or Diualad (Cadwaladr), perig fpcfygl)> hud-
dig (huddygl).
22 Parry-Williams,
In Br., on the other hand, when a charge does take place,
it is generally the dropping of the final liquid that occurs,
even in monosyllables as well as polysyllables, e. g. :
lest (W. llestr\ mesl (mestr. Fr. maitre), eont (eontr, W. ewy-
thr), frenest (M. Br. fenestr}, pot(potr).
One or two doubtful exs. in M. Br. are cagal (? W. cagl,
cagal), mffur (euffr) 'oeuvre'; (here, however, the group ffu
may be only another way of writing^) ; charoigun 'charogne1 ;
delech for dekh ; gener Fr. genre.
Cf. M. Br. H. dilivaraff(Fr. delivrer*} ; M. &t.(]E.)ch#udou-
ron (Fr. chaudron), sourpelis (Fr. surplis), Mod. Br. soiirpiliz ;
L. E. (#.) bnrutel 'blutoir' (O. Fr. bhitel), palastr (O. Fr.
(etn)plastre) ; kalafati(¥i\ calfater}Ir.,perisil (fr.persify Tr. cf.
W. ppsibilrwydd (from posibt).
In Mod. Br. in such words as ialc'h, aoualc'h, an epenthetic
or glide-vowel is said to be perceptible between the liquid and
the final consonant.
Note : The common practice of dropping the final liquid
in such cases as the above mentioned has led to the addition
of an unetymological / or r in some words, see §§ 56, 58.
In the use of the svarabhakti vowel W. approaches nearer
to Br. in the practice of inserting this vowel in initial conso-
nantal groups ; in the Vann. dial, more especially in Br., in
W. in some standing literary forms and also in some words
found in early texts.
Br. exs. : M. Br. (E.) quenechen, kenech (knech) 'mountain',
M. Br. (E.) barat (O. Br. brat, W. brad)-, Vann. has dele, deli
cdebt', deleour (pi. delerion) ' debtor', quenluen (pi. queneu)
'nut', darask(and drasti) ca thrush', kaneo 'fleece' (W. cnu or
cnuf). The Leon form dlu%, fa trout', is in Cornouaille duluf.
In the M. Br. Chart. (L. C£.) there seems to be an isolated
instance, viz. Tenou(-Evet) by the side of the commoner form
tnou, trou, In Mod. Br. Tenou-Evel is Tenuel. M. Br. has
knoen and kanouenn plur. kanou (W. cneuen, plur. cnaii).
W. exs. :
M. W. dylyed £claim, night', dylyedawg cnoble', dylyu and
deleu'to deserve, to owe', Mod. W. dyled (and died, dyled),
cf. Vann, dele\ tyno 'dale' (Br. trou, tnoti). In some fairly
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 23
early texts the following forms are found, — tolodi (t-lodi, also
Mod. W. tylawd and llawd, clawd (dial.)), Goroec (Groeg},
taramwy (tramwy)> cynawd (cnawcT), oi bylegid (p'i blegid) ; cf.
colloquial pyriodi (priodi).
10. — Syncope of Vowels in W. and Br. :
The suppression of unaccented vowels (both pre-tonic and
post-tonic) is a common process in W. and Br. Some exs. of
early date are W. crydd, dnvs (Br. fare, kereour, Ir. cairem, Ir.
dprus)< Instances of this disappearance of unaccented vowels
are common in all the Brythonic languages, in medial as well
as in initial'syllables, being due to the influence of the old
Brythonic accent.
The effect of the accent on pre-tonic syllables, however, is
particularly evident in Mod. W. and in the Br. dial. of. Vann.,
where the modern rule demands the accent on the last svl-
labe, as was probably the general rule in Brythonic generally
at an earlier period.
Vann. has clom (Leon Jtoulm) as well as colom, W. c(o)1om-
en ; Vann. clom 'knot' (W. cwlwm, M. W. chvni) and sclom ;
see V. (Cfr.) s. v.
In the Mod. W. spoken language this loss of a vowel is
exceedingly common, e. g.
Clamai (Calanmai = Calan Mai), Clangaeaf (Calan gaeaf),
donna (calonnau),cnebrwng or cnebrwn (cynhebrwng), spydu (di-
kyspyddu'), mrymon (morynion\ cnegu'arth (ceiniogwertli), sleinsio
(<C siahinsio E. challenge), cf. p'k (pa k), p'rai (pa rai), cly-
wu (from cwlwm), gwldu for gweJaau plur. oigwely, * give-
la.
Note : Another instance of the loss of a vowel in W. and
Br. is mentioned in Fed. § 42, Anm. i, -- « Nach dem w
geht im Br. haufig ein Vokal (anf dem Wege der Assimila-
tion) verloren :
Br. eontr 'Oheim' ; eon 'Schaum', abr. etionoc ; naoun. Selte-
ner tritt dies im C. ein : c. haul br. heol, c. cawr 'Riese* gall.
Kauapoc. ...»
Other W. exs. of a loss of this kind would be the dial .
forms.
24 Parry -Williams.
wllys [ewyllysy, wddu (awyddu), twchu (tewycbu), newddion-
(newyddion), twnnu (tywynnu), twsu (tywysu), Sulgwn (Sulg-
wyn), Llanwnda (from Llan -\- Gwyndaf), Llanrwst(<^ Llan
wrwst = Llan Gwnvst, cf. O. Br. Uuorgost, Uurgost). Cf.
Mod. W. diwrnod for M. W. diwarnawd; S. W. has still di-
warnod.
The loss of a post-tonic vowel occurs in such forms as W.
gweld, mynd for gweled, myned, and in Br. mont, monet ; dont,
donet.
DIPHTHONGS
11. - - Diphthongization of simple vowels, unaffected by i
or ; in the next syllable :
A. Original a and 0 were both treated in Brythonic as 0,
which underwent the same treatment as L. o in special cases
in loan-words. In W. this developed into a diphthong aw in
accented syllables. This change is mostly peculiar to W., but
there are a few traces of similar diphthongization in Br., e.g.
O. Br. lau (gl. armum), Br. penao^1 chow' Treg. penos (W.
naws\ laosk (Lat. laxus, Ped.§ 32. 2.)
Probable examples of this diphthongization in W. and Br.
loanwords from Lat. are : W. awr, O. Br. ann-aor (gl. quan-
doquidem), Lat. bora; W. nawn, Lat. nona.
B. Later exs. of diphthongization in the history of W. and
Br. .
i) In a few words W. andBr. have developed a diphthong
from u (i. e. Br. and early W. u -sound) before ch, e. g. W.
buwch (but pi. bucbod-, also bitches, a collective form), Br. bioc'h,
btioc'h. Cf. W. uwch, by side of M. W. uch, and ucbel ; lluwch
( snow-drift', but llitchio cto hurl'; cuwch 'frown', cuchio £to
frown', In Dywlais the dyw- stands for dti fblack' = - *dub-.
A similar diphthongization of an w-sound is evident also in
some loan-words in W. from E. or Anglo-Fr. The earlier form
of the diphthong is uw in W. O. E. had the sound u (O. E.
y), and this survived in M. E. especially in the South-West.
But is was from Fr. that most of the cases of u came over to
E. In E. itself the sound underwent the following develop-
I . M . Br. penaus, penaux (L . C/> . )
2 6 Parry- Williams .
merit, ti -ei -iu -iu (the Mod. E. pronunciation). But though
the diphthongization began in E. before the end of the i5th.
c., the u itself was also preserved side by side with the diph-
thong. Hence the W. uw may be a development of the fi pure
or a reflection in W. of the process of diphthongization taking
place in E. itself.
Exs:
buwl ca mule', in W. Llyns Geiriadur ; fluwet ' a flute' W.
S. ; luwt fa lute', W. S. ; miwsig, musig, muwsig 'music', found
in W. as early as D. G. (p. 370, Ymysg llu'n gwau miwsig
lion); rhuw 'rue', in Medd. Mydd., siwgr 'sugar' (found in
D. G. p. 83, siwgr ar win iddyn segr wen)',yspruws 'spruce',
W. S.
2). Other cases of diphthongization are more or less com-
mon in Br. and W.
Before ;( (for d or f) in Br. we find in some words ei, where
e would be expected to appear, e. g. Br. dei^ (W. dydd), fei\
(W. ffydd), nei^ (W. nytV), Brci^ (W. Brytb-on).
Where ai (earlier ei) appears in W. as the result of Umlaut,
Br. has generally e, but before ^ again the diphthong ei app-
ears in the words prei% (W. praidd)3hei% (W. haidd), blei% (W.
blaidd). Cf. alsoBr. eil (W. aify leil (W. tail). By the side
of Trindet we get Br. an Dreindet (W. y Drindod) ; and in L .
Ch. (M. Br. Chart.) the form Roe^ in Roe^-quoedou is found
for the usual Ros. In M. Br. saffroen stands for Fr. safran.
Similar cases of diphthongization are noticeable also in
Mod. W. (chiefly dial., and mostly in monosyllables as in
Br.), e. g.
maen (man), does (dos cgo thou'), tu-hwynt (tit-humf), foes
(ffds), baes (bds), braen (bran), gzulaen (gwldii). Cf. beiddiw
(heddyw\ gloewyn byw (gloyn byw ( butterfly'), gweudyn
(gwydnj.
In some E. loanwords in W. the E. a is occasionally diph-
thongized, e. g :
Sgaer (E. share), spaer (E. spare). In sglaits (E. slates) the
diphthong may be a reflection of the E. diphtongization of a
in such words. The old W. form is ysglatus.
Similar ity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 27
Other cases of diphthongization in E. loanwords seem to
be W. dantailh 'a delicacy', M. E. danteth, dantith; cofainl,
cwfaint1 'a convent', M. E. covent (from Anglo-Fr. covent,
cuvent), as in D. G. p. 316 'Pwl g.wfaint, pobl o gyfoed', R. B.
H. II, p. 335, 'ac y dechreuwyt coueint y manachlawc gaer
llion'; twrnamaint , twrueimaint (Mab.) 'a tournament', M. E.
tournemeni ; (lurmimant occurs in M. A. p. 134).
3). The W. and Br. dials, exhibit other peculiarities of pro-
nunciation.
In the Vann. dial, of Sarzeau e becomes er before a vowel, at
the end of words and b-torj n, m\ e. g. leies(W. Hiatus),
leien or lujain (W. lliaiii), hei (W. hi'). — R. C. 3 p. 47.
In the Br. dial, of Quiberon also, ou and o are occasionally
diphthongized. 'Open' o becomes oa, 'close' o becomes oua, e.
g :
din couoch 'old man' (Leon den co%); ascouorn (Leon
ascoitrn) ; coarn 'corner' (Leon corn) loast 'tail' (Leon lost). —
R. C. 16, p. 323.
Diphthongization in hiatus (as in Vann. dial.) is not un-
known to the W. dials., e. g. in parts of N. Wales.
lleian (lliain)y drenan ohono (druan ohono), trelog (triog,
triag, 'treacle'), plenan (pluen), ffeuan (ff&en) ; in Cardigan-
shire eiios (eos)y euog (eog 'salmon'). The //-glide after the o,
before / in such E. words as poll, bold, hold has developed into
a full diphthong in W. powlio, powld (dial.); hoiuld (dial).
12. -- A common source of diphthongization in W. and
Br. is that of vowels followed by a palatal-dental-spirant, voi-
ced or voiceless (or followed by n or r -\- a dental-spirant),
in loanwrords from E. and Romance. W. S., in his W. Dictio-
nary (i 6th. c.), has a note about the pronunciation of the W.
a, to this effect, -
« ... Neyther yet as it is pronounced in English, when it
commeth before ge, 11, sh, tch. For in these wordes and such
other in Englyshe, domage, heritage, language, ashe, lashe,
watch, calme, call, a is throught to decline toward the sound
i. In the M. W, texts cwfent and cwfeint occur, plur. etufennoed; the
form with the diphthong may be a direct I orrowing from Lat. convcn.tw
28 Parry-Williams.
of these diphthonges at, au, and the wordes be read in thys
wys, domaige; heritaige, languaige, waitche, caulme,
caul. ... ».
In another place, when dealing with the gound sh of E.,
W. S. says :
« sh in dyfod ar ol bocal yn (iss) y galwant vegys hyn as she
aiss, 'onnen'; wasshe waiss 'golchi'. Ac yn pa ryw van bynac
ar air i del, ssio val neidyr gyffrous a wna, nid yn anghyssyllt-
pell o y wrth swn y llythyr hebrew a elwir schin... ».
Then we have Palsgrave's note(£. E. P. p. 120, note):
« Also all words in the French tong which in writtyng end
in-age shall in redyng and spekyng sound an / between a and
g, as though that a were this diphthong ai, as for langage,
etc. . . ».
The great number of Romance words in W. and Br. prove
this tendency towards diphthongization, and they have de-
signated this in the written forms of the words as full diph-
thongs. But in the case of W. and Br. the same thing hap-
pens with o, u, e (and i) in such positions.
Though we have external proofs of this only from the
1 6th. c., yet there are indications of the diphthongization even
earlier in W. borrowings from Romance, e. g. in D. G. and
lolo Goch (14-15 cs.), and later in L. G. C.
In some of the Fr. dials, at an early date, the a before g
in the ending -age was also 'palatalized'. The ending is often
written aige (and ege). In the i5th. c. it was found occasio-
nally in the dial, of Paris, but was later discarded. (See
Meyer-Lubke, Historische Grammatik der Fran^psischen Sprache,
§ 102.)
Exs. of this diphthongization in W. :
a) a : braens 'branch' (in W. Llynlll, 62 'Arglwydd ystaens
o vraenszm fric' ; C. Coch MSS. p. 335 'Braens oEdwin brins
ydoedd'); baeds 'badge' W. 'S.; caets 'cage' (D. G. 'Caets eu-
raid fal coed sirian' ; W. S. has kaits ederyn 'cage') ; ferneis-
win 'vernage (wine)' ; maits. 'matche' W. 5.; mantais 'van-
tage' W. S. ; mortgaeds 'mortgage' W. S.; or aits (praens)
'orange'; potaes 'potage' W. 5.; or/o'clock' W. 5., (W.
Llyns Geirladur has orlais 'cloc', and D. G. has also. 'Orlais
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 29
goch ar irlas gainc'. In M. E. orloge, orlage) ; saeds 'sage' W ' .
S. ; taeds (bach gwn) 'a tache' W. S. ; taitsment 'Attachement'
W. S.
b). e : kleinsio pen hoyl 'clenche' W. S. (M. E. clenche(n .
cleinsio is a common W. dial, form); veinsians 'vengeance' W.
S. (M. E. vengeance., vengeaunce) ; fteitsier 'fletcher' W. S. (M.
E. flecher, fletcher); treinsiwr . 'a trencher' (Z). G. p. 204
'Trwn sor ffals, treinsiwr ffug'. M. E. trencher. In lolo Goch
p. 315 we get traenstcvr, -- 'Beth a fynnai erfai wr | eithr
arianswch a traenswir ?'); Freiss 'fresshe' W. S.; in Medd.
Mydd. p. 204 4Cais bysgod ffrais\ In Mod. W. dial, sleinsio
(for sialeinsio) E. challenge.
c). 7 : ? bernais 'varnish' in Z). G. p. 103 'Delw o bren
gwern dan fernais'. W. S. has barnais and verneis 'ver-
nyssche'. M. E. vernisch, vernysche ; ysgarmes (? for ysgarmais
or ysgarmeis by monophthongization), sgarmes in L. G. C.
p. 155, M. E. skirmischen (verb).
d). o : broitsio 'broche' W. 5., (L. G. C., however, has
#/w/0 and brosiwr); loydsio 'lodge' W. S. (also in Mod. W.
dials); orloes, M. E. orloge 'a horologe' (Z). G. has 'Gwrd-
dlef telyn ac orloes'); Roesser, Roessier 'Roger'; Antioys (?
from Antioch, pronounced with a spirant cti) in L/m a/ /^
Cambro-British Saints (Buchedd Margref) p. 222 'y dinas
Antioys'.
e). u : bwysmant 'bushment, ambushment', lolo Goch
p. 133, 'Gwna vwysmanl, bid trychant trwch' ; bwysel (and
mwyset) 'a bushel'; bwytsiet 'a bougette' ^F. 5.; brwiss 'a
brusshe' ?F. 5. (brwyssio 'to brush') M. E. brusshe ; dwynsiwn
'a dungeon' in C. C^/; M^. p. ^24 'yn dalgrwn i'r dwyn-
siwn du' ; twyts 'touche' W. S., (twytsio 'to touch' in C. Coch
MSS. p. 177 'ac nid oedd, gwna dy weddi air yno i'th
dwytsio di').
Exs. of this diphthongization in Br. J :
a), a : In L. Ch. the following occur, — couraig 'courage',
i . As there are forms without the diphthong by the side of the diph-
$o Parry-Williams.
davantaig (and davantag) 'davantage', imaich 'image', outraig
'outrageusement', personnaig 'personnage'. In M. Br. (E.) the
following, - - arraig bras 'une grande rage', bevraig 'breu-
vage', bisalg (yisdg, visaig) 'visage', chaing 'echange', domaig
(and donmag) 'dommage', faig (and faicli), Fr. fdcher, heritaig
'heritage', imaig (and imag) 'image', langaig 'langage', paig
(and pag) 'page', potaig 'potage', messaiger (and messager)
'message', raig 'rage'. Tr. has kraihcbat 'cracher avec effort'.
Exs. of this diphthong are very numerous.
b). e : This, when diphthongized, sometimes takes the
forme at. L. Ch. privilaig and privilaich 'privilege'; M. Br.
(E.) has ampeig 'obstacle' (but ampechaf 'empecher'), breig
'trouble' (? from Fr. bre'cbe), rebeig 'reproche' (O. Fr. rebecher
'se rebecquer'). In R. C. 8, p. 468 collaicbou 'colleges'.
c). / : In R. C. 10 p. 33 we find a form seyg (ho seyg hu
'votre siege, a vous'), which seems to show some kind of
diphthongization of the vowel. The common form of the
word in Br. is sich.
d). o : M. Br. (E.) has horoloig (and borollog) 'horloge' ;
loigeaff 'loger' (but log 'loge'); poence (and ponce, with epen-
thetic «) 'pouce'. In R. C. 8, p. 242 soingis (from Fr. verb
songer) and p. 244 pxnsoiHgaff 'quand je reflechis'.
e). u : M. Br. (E.) ambuig 'embuches' ; cf. R. C. 10, p. 23
'me gray rez, emezaff | Ambaig do distragaf (je leur tendrai
des embuches pour les perdre).
f). on : V. (Ch.) has louiss 'louche'. The M. Br. form
seems to be loes (M. Br. (E.) s. v. loes 'louche', van. lues du
1. luscus). Cf. R. C. 3, p. 72, 'Ruijenn deuz ann noz | Glao
antionoz' (Rougeur au ciel le soir, de la pluie le lende-
main).
Br. shows diphthongization also of vowels followed by gn
thongized forms, these apparent cases of diphthongization may be merely
orthographical. Besides, the modern Br. forms have no diphthongs in this
case, as a rule. Such a form, howewer, as M. Br. ch'nchiff (Fr. changer)
seems to point to some influence of the consonant on the preceding vowel,
Cf. §7-
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 31
in the Fr. originals, e. g. M. Br. (E.) cigoing 'cigogne', com-
paignun 'compagnon', groign 'grogner', Bourgoing (and Bour-
goign, Bourgouinn) 'Bourgogne*, roingnenn 'rogne'; Spaing
'Espagne\ In L. Ch. Allamaign ' 1'Allemagne', yvraignour
'ivrogne'.Cf. R. C. 7, p. 338 'Rac \\ispairgnein hanni (car je
n'epargnerai personne) in the Vann. dial. Cl. M. W. Bwlwyn
Boulogne.
13. - - The Diphthong 0/ of loanwords in W. and Br. :
A. In Br. :
In O. Fr. the diphthongs ai, ei were kept distinct, but in
Norman Fr. they fell together, becoming 'open' ei.
The monophthongization of ai through 'open' ei to
'open' e took place very early in Fr., but the process worked
earlier in certain cases than in others. It appears to have
taken place earlier before double than before single conso-
nants, in the I2th. c. final ai seems to have been pronounced
as 'close' e or 'close' ei, but final aie kept the diphthong even
up to the 1 6th. c. (see Meyer-Liibke's Hislorische Grammatik
tier Frampsischen Sprache, § 90).
The same takes place in the history of nasalised ai and ei.
By the middle of the I2th. c. these had fallen together (see
Meyer-Liibke, op. cit., § 91).
In the Br. loanwords from Fr. the sound appears in the
forms fleand e from the M. Br. period. How far ae was a pure
diphthong it is not easy to say. Even in early M. Br. in
native Br. words the diphthong ae appears as e, e. g. L. Ch .
(M. Br. Chart.) tnael, mel (W. mael- 'prince'), maen, men
W. maen 'stone'), woes, mes (W. maes 'field'), kaer, ker (W.
caer). In the Mod. Br. dials, the change is very common; for
the ae of Leon the dial, of Treg. has e (e), e. g. L. flaer, Tr.
vler , L. sue, Tr. %e. In the Vann. dial, also the change to e is
universal.
Troude in his dictionary says : « AE. Cette finale se pro-
nonce comme^'en franc,ais. C'est unediphtongue bretonne »,
and he cites such words as pae (Fr. paye), roe (Fr. rale) as
exs.
In some Br. texts & and even ai occasionally appear, R.
3 2 Parry- Williams .
C. i p. no aigl caigle'; M. Br. (E.) ivrai 'ivraie'; a form like
M. Br. (E.) baettes 'bettes' seems to show that ae was used to
denote a vowel sound.
i). The following are exs. of. Br. ae (i) corresponding to
Fr. ai.
M. Br. (E.) has aegr 'aigre', aegraff caigrir', aer 'air', aes
(ae£) 'aisement', appaesaff 'apaiser', apotiquaer 'apothicaire',
bilen (vilain, villain) 'vilain', cabiden (capiten, cabiien) 'capi-
taine', cheueten 'cheuetaine', certen 'certain', daes 'dais', debo-
ner 'debonnaire', defaet 'de fait', dem cdaim', essae cessayer',
faet { fait' , f res 'frais' (also M. Br. fresq), gat 'gae', germen 'ger-
main', humen (humaen) 'humain', imparfet 'imparfait', lelu
'laitue', maestr (tilsutf, mestr, mest) 'maitre', monden (inoun-
denn, mundain) 'mondain', necesser 'necessaire', noler 'notaire',
ordiner 'ordinaire', panesen 'panais', pae cpaie', paeamant fpaie-
ment', palaes 'palais', oraeson (oresori) 'oraison'^raeson craison',
saeson csaison', soliter 'solitaire', souden 'soudain', vicaer
'vicaire', vaen 'vain', vanaeson 'venaison', dalae (dale) 'delai'.
In L. Ch. cer cair de musique', reson, raeson, raison, ray son
'raison' and others. In M. Br. H. afer 'affaire', saler 'salaire'.
In A. L. C. p. 606 cambre « toile fine, de Cambray ».
In M. Br. veruen Fr. verveine, t represents Fr. ei; in M..Br.
assaign (L. Ch.) Fr. enseigne, ai represents Fr. ei.
2). Before / mouillee the Fr. ei, ai appear in the Br. forms
of the words as ai almost invariably.
Exs. : In M. Br. (E.) amaill 'email!', apparaill 'appareil',
bitaill (bylayll), O. Fr. vitaille, boutaille 'bouteille', moraill
'moraille', parail 'pareil', taill 'taille', marvaill 'merveille'. In
R. C. 8, p. 90 tenaillen 'tenailles', R. C. 8, p. 230 vaillant
'vaillant'.
In M. Br. the forms appareil and appareill occur by the side
of the commoner apparaill. Cf. M. Br. (E.) treill houarn'treil-
lis de fer'.
Before gn of Fr. the ai appears in Br. as ai, as in M. Br.
(E.) brahaing 'brahaigne'; cf. M. Br. assaign fenseigne'.
B. In W. :
The early M.. E. diphthongs ai (O. E. ceg) and ei (O. E.
Similarity in the Phonology of Jfa'lsh and Breton. 33
££•) fell together under ai in the I4th. c. in pronunciation.
(See E. E. P. pp. 378, 119, and Horn's Historiscbe Neuen-
glische Grammatik, vol. I, p. 96). The same holds good for the
el and ai of Romance words in E. The development of the
pronunciation of M. E. ai, el may be seen from this table
given in E. E. P. (where the double vowel means a long
vowel). -
Mod. spelling I4th. c. i6th. c. lyth. c. i8th. c.
al, ay ai ai, aai &&i, ee eel, ee
(j'a'niy way)
el, ey ai el, eel, ai eei, ei eei, ee, ii
(vein, obey)
The chief difficulty in ascertaining the exact pronunciation
of the W. representatives of these E. diphthongs lies in the
fact that in such texts as the Mabinogion and the Bnits (R.
B. H.) the ai of Mod. W. is generally represented by ei.
How far this represents the real sound of the diphthong it is
difficult to tell, as the tendency among scribes was to be con-
servative in the matter of spelling, even when the sounds had
undergone a change. In W .S. (early i6th. c.) the diphthong
was, with a few exceptions (e. g. niedlei, palffrei), expressed
byai. As the texts of the works of the W. poets of the
medieval period are comparatively late, and have undoubted-
ly undergone considerable change, an examination of them
would afford little clue to the exact pronunciation. Such lines
as the following in the works of D. G.
p . 88 Un arghwrtrt/5 yn llmio
and p. 211 Ac with eichwrtaw1 gmiaw
having 'Cynghanedd lusg' would seem to point to some resem-
blance between the ei of a W. word like lleisio (from llais)
and the diphthong in the M. E. (Romance) word corteis (cor-
teys, curtais, curlays). In E.,at any rate, the diphthong, as
we have seen, was at this time pronounced ai, and it may
have been so in W . , though frequently written eit and though
the 'Cynghanedd' seems to demand the sound of ei to answer
to the ei of the W. wrord. In such cases of 'cynghanedd lusg',
however, the actual identity of sound may not have been
PARRY- WILLIAMS. — These. 3
34 Parry -Williams.
absolutely essential. Such is the case according to the modern
rules of 'cynghanedd'.
Taking a line like the one found in M. A. p. 307 :
Cadair tfair ffydd cedawl ufydd ced alafedd,
we seem to have an internal rhyme between cadair and fair.
If so., we may expect the pronunciation of the ai to be the same
in both words. The diphthong in fair, if from M. E., must have
been pronounced ai. Cadair is from hat. cathedra, and thus theai
must have been pronounced ei at one stage of its development.
In M. W. MSS. it would have been ei; bnt as this poem in
the M.. A. dates from the same period, and as cadair rhymes
wnhffair (with ai pronounced ai), we may gather that the ei
in M. W. MSS. in some cases, at least, represented the pro-
nunciation ai, or, at any rate, some sound approaching to
it.
According to its position (though not always regularly) this
ai- sound of E. is represented differently in theW. loanwords.
In the following cases, (i) when final in monosyllables, (2)
when followed immediately by a vowel in the next syllable,
(3) when coming before /, n, r, s, it appears in W. as ae (ay),
a sound which has today, and probably even at a fairly early
period, the sound of W. au. In monosyllables this W. diph-
thong had a long element, au. When the monosyllables are
lengthened by the addition of an ending containing a 'front'
sound, the ae becomes ei, e. g. paent, peintio (to paint) ; tram
(dial., fa drain'), treinio (to drain). Cf. W. g-waedd (a shout)
butgweiddi (to shout).
In all other cases the diphthong appears as ai (ei), and occa-
sionally as e. The ei appears in accordance with the rule of
Mod. W. in such words as tnain, meinion. W. S. is not
always consistent, for he has medlei, but rwmnai ; cwrteis, but
malais. Where the Mod. W. has ei, however, he too has ei, e.
g. cwrteisi, maleisus, twrneiod.
Exs. :
i) W. words with ae :
haels (dial., 'shot') M. E. hail, hayle-, mad 'gain', early E.
S'uniLirllv in the Phonology of ITclsb and Breton. 35
malic, Mod. E. mail ; yslacr 'stair'; aer 'air', M. E. eir, ayre;
aer 'heir', M. E. eire, eyr, ayr; aesel 'verjuice', M. E. alsel,
eisil ; aw mael (pw mad) 'enamel', M. E. aumayl; bae 'bay-tree'
(in Medd. Mydd, p. 249), M. E. bayle, bale ; baeart 'bayard',
M. E. bayard , balaen (balain, balm, malaen) 'Milan-steel',
early E. Melayne, Mylleyn ; berjaen (ferfaen) 'vervain', M. E.
verveyne ; ditaen 'dittany', early E. dyteyne, dytayne; ffrae 'a
quarrel', E. fray; maentumio 'maintain', M. E. malnten(e,
mayniyn(e; paemant 'payment', M. E. payment, palement ; paent
'paint'; plaen 'plain'; siamberlayn 'chamberlayne' W. S.;tae-
li-wr (also teiliwr, ieiler~) in D. G. p. ic, 'a tailor' ; trafael
'travail, travel'.
2) Words with ai («), in W. :
atwrnai attorney', M. E. att(o)urney} atiornai ; baili, belli
'bailiff' ; batail 'battle', M. E. batayle, bataille ; bitain 'betony',
early E. betayne (W. bas also betairi) ; bitail 'victuals', M. E.
vitaille ; bilain 'villain' ; cawsai 'a causey, causeway', M. E.
causei ; clai 'clay', M. E. clai, del; claim (L. G. C. p. 46,
'Harri ei glaim rhoi i gler' ; W. Llyn in his Geiriadur has
claimio, but B. Cwsc has cleimio, like Mod. W.) 'claim', M. E.
chyme, clay me ; ciuuipeini 'company', M. E. compainie ; ciurtais
'courteous', M. E. cartels, curtais; fair 'fair', M. E.feire,feyre ;
ffwrnais 'furnace', M. E. furneise, fo(u)rnays(e ; hacnal 'hack-
ney' (W . S. hacknei) M. E. haktnai, hak(e)nel ; harnais 'har-
ness', M. E. harnais, harnels ; lefain 'leaven', M. E. levain(e ;
lifrai 'livery', M. E. liverei, liver ay ; medial 'medley1 (W '. S.
medlei) ; motlai, mwtlai 'motley' ; mwnai 'money', M. E.
moneys, monaye; paljfrai 'palfrey' (W\ S. palffrei) M. E. palefral,
palefrey ; sinmai 'chimney', M. E. cbymneye; slwrnal 'journey',
M. E. lor nee, jurneie.
3) Words with e in W. :
balen (by the side of balaen, balain, malaen, see above (2))
'Milan-steel', Early E. melayne ; bar gen (by D. G. 'Beth a dal
anwadalu | Wedi'r hen far gen a fu ?'), by side of bargain,
M. E. bargayne, bargeyne ; prije sel 'privy seal' W. S., (but
L. G. C. p. 262, pryfai sel), M. E. privei, privay ; slambrlen
'chamberlain' in D. G. p. 117, 'Siambrlen y feinwen yw fo',
3 6 Parry- Williams.
(but W.S. at a later period has siamberlayn, see above (i)),
M. E. chamber lei n, chamber layne, O. Fr. chamberlain, chamber-
ten ; travel 'travail, travel' in M. A. p. 287 b, but with travael
in the very same poem, M. E. travail; wassel 'wassail' in
L. G. C. p. 13 'val rhoi wassel, but in L. G. C. p. 81 £govyn
wassael\ M. E. wasseyl, washayl.
Note : - - In the W. dials, the diphthong is regularly
monophthongised, e.g. simne, or simna for simnai ; siwrne,
siwrna for siwrnai (see § 15).
14. — The Diphthong oi of loanwords in W. and Br. :
In native words O. Br. oi became M. Br. oe and Mod Br. oe,
oa, oue. These diphthongs generally represent the W. oe and w/y
(and occasionally ae). In W. oe and wy sometimes interchange
e.g. hoenyn and hwynyn 'a snare'. In dials, cwylio may be heard
for coelio 'to believe'. In the Romance loanwords W. and Br.
show marked similarity in their treatment ot the diphthong.
A. In Br. :
The O. Fr. fez-diphtong developed first into oi. This oi fell
together with 'open' oi, even as early as the i2th. c. The
exact pronunciation of this oi, however, is not known. But
the next development seems to have been to oi (? proving
that the o was 'close'). In the ijth. c. this alternates with a
form oai. The pronunciation oe (or rather ne) is the common
one in the subsequent centuries, till the pronunciation ua
appears. Traces of this are found even in the i6th. c. (See
Meyer-Liibke's Historische Grammatik, § 83).
The forms met with in the Br. words are primarily oe, later
oa (where o stands probably for an u- sound. See Ernault's
Petite Grammaire Bretonne, p. 3).
It may be remarked here that the forms oe, ue, one alternate
frequently in the Br. texts and dictionaries, e.g. in the native
words — M. Br. (E.) argoe^, argoue^, aroe^, arue^ (W. arwydd) ;
clouet, pi. cloedou (W. clwyd); cf. does, dues (W. dwys).
In the Vann. dial, oue, oui generally appear where the Leon
dial, has oe, oue.
Similarity in the Phoiiologv. of Welsh and Breton, 37
i) Fr. oi = Br. oe (pa). - - For the interchange of oe and
oa in M. Br. see R. C. 1 i, p. 364.
Exs. : In M. Br. (E.) atnpoeson cpoison', from Fr. empoison-
iier; angoes cangoisse' ; appoeaj] 'appoier' ; appoentaff 'appoin-
ter'; boest 'boite' ; chamoes 'chamois'; choas 'choix1 ; coant, O.
Fr. coint\ coeff, 'coifte; foar 'foire', (R. C., I, p. 122, un foar
gaer) ; meritoer 'meritoire' ; parroes 'paroisse ; poenc^pn 'poincon';
pressoer 'pressoir' ; poeson 'poisson', refectoer 'refectoire' voetur
'voiture' ; poent 'point'. In L. Ch. occur choaset 'choisi'; gloar
'gloire'; vanegloer 'vaine gloire'; victoar 'victoire ; joa cjoie' ;
and many others.
2) Fr. oi = Br. one :
In M. Br. (E.*) fonen 'foin' occurs. In R. C.,8, p. 90 we get
'vn mone^ (une voix) ; M. Br. has scruytouer by the side o.t
scruitoer, scritol 'ecritoire'.
3) oi stands for Fr. oi in one word, M. Br. (E.) coing or
coinn 'coin'.
4) oae stands for Fr. oi in one or two cases, — M. Br. (E.)
coaent (coent, coant) for O. Fr. coint, and Troae (Troe) 'Troie'.
Here, however, the ae may be for e.
5) The Fr. oi, appears in a number of Br. words as e (and
ae).
By the side of the development of Fr. oi mentioned above,
this diphthong had also another development through /^'(with
'open' e) to 'open' e. This change cannot be satisfactorily
explained. (See Meyer-Liibke's Histoncbe Grammatik der Fran-
Zpsischen Sprache § 84.) Reflections of this are found in Br.
loanwords, where the Fr. oi is represented by e1. But by the
side of this e there occur also forms with ae. Whether this ae
represents an 'open' e, or is really a diphthong alternating with
ae ( as is not uncommon) is uncertain. It may be mentioned
however, that in Fr. in the dial, of He de France nasalised ai
is rhymed with nasalised oi from the i3th. c. (See Meyer-
i. The West Fr. forms were ei, e. The Br. forms may then be due to
these or to the other development ofoi.
38 Parry- William';.
Lubke op. cit. § 91 and § 84). The e of Br. can hardly be a
monophthongized form of oe, because oe when monopthhongi-
zed becomes (generally in final syllables) o in Br., e.g. M. Br.
nadoe^, Mod. Br. nado%; M. Br. baradoe^ Mod. Br. barado^. In
M. Br. it rhymes with -aes and -os.
Exs. with e and ae in Br. :
M. Br. (E.) panes (by side of parrots) cparoisse'; presser
(by the side of pressoer) cpressoir' ; cenies 'cervois' ; courtes,
cortes 'courtois' ; damesel, demesel (Mod. Br. dime^el) 'damoi-
selle' ; hachedenes 'hachedenoise' ; deuer 'devoir' ; lesen 'loi',
from Fr. lots ; lesir cloisir' ; maner 'manoir' ; noter 'notoire' ;
esplet 'exploit'; esper cespoir'; veturier 'voiturier'.
achaeson O. Fr. achoison ; aer (fern, acres) 'heritier', O. Fr.
Mr ; Bendet 'Benoit' ; brae 'broye' ; esmae femoi' ; laesen cloi'
(cf. lesen above).
Note : -- For interchange of ae and oe, (ai and 01) cf. M.
Br. charaig and charoigun fcharogne' ; fae and foi cfi' ; Geruoes
'Gervais'.
B. In W. :
Ellis in his E. E. P. says that the oi (py) of Mod. E. words
was pronounced id in the 1/j.th. c. Horn in his Historische
Neuenglische Gratnmatik, Vol. i, p. 100, says, - - « Oi, id.
Die me. Worter mit oi-id sind fast alle franzosischen Urs-
prungs. Die Doppelheit oi-ui finden wrir bei den friih-neuen-
glischen Orthoepisten wieder : sie entscheiden, allerdings,
mit betrachtlichen Schwanken, zwei Gruppen von Wortern,
eine mit oi, eine andere mit id. Es scheint moglich, dass afrz.
ot die Quelle von me. oi ist, wahrend afrz. oi me. id ergab. »
On p. 209 he gives a table containing -
1 8th. c. 1 9th . c
oi oi
di-oi oi .
See further E. E. P. p. 399.
With a few exceptions, appearing mostly in W. S., the
M. E.
1 5th. c.
i6th. c.
1 7th. c.
oi(joy)
oi
oi
pi
ui (boil)
ui
ui, n
n
S i mil arit v in the Phonohgv of Welsh and Breton. 39
W. words have w\ corresponding to this diphthong of. E. In
M. W. the y in wy is == W. // ; in 5. W. it is =- /.
1) Exs. with wy :
Anwyntio 'anoint' (Z. G. C. p. 288 Yntau Tomas 'nwyn-
tiwyd a gras) ; apwyntio 'appoint', M. E. apoint(e, apoynt(e ;
dsswynl from M. E. asoyne\ brwylio 'broyle' W. S. ; bwi a
vydd with ancor 'boy' W. S., Mod. E. buoy ; ffwyl ? . from
E.foil \fwyn brath ac aryf 'foyne' W. 5., M. E. foyn(e ; llwyn,
lw\n 'loin' (W '. S. has Uwyn ar gic 'A loyne'), M. E. loyne ;
pwynt 'point' (D. G. p. 141 Pwyntiah afrwydd drwy'r flwyd-
dyn) ypwyntio, an aphetic form ofappwyntio 'appoint' ; pwynteh
pwyntil 'pencil, pointer, M. E. poyntil, poytitell; pwyntmant
'pointment, appointment' (D. G. p. 49 F r nant lie' r oedd
pwyntmant per) ; pwysi 'a posy', Early E. poysie ; sbwylio
(spwylio) 'to spoil' (Cym. LI. Cym. II. p. 22. A sbwyliodd
lawer sten a stwnt ; p. 26, a spwyliodd lawer ffenestrwen.);
wynwyn (gwynwyn) 'onions' (Mcdd. Mydd, p. 173, gwynwyn)
M. E. oynon-
2) Exs. with o^ (03') :
Kloystr 'cloister' (I. Goch p. 175 Kloystr Westmustr) ; coe-
ten, coetan 'a quoit', M. E. coyte\ voydio 'voyde' W . S., M. E.
voiden; oystreds ffedder 'oystreche ffedder' W. S., i.e. ostrich
feather, M. E. oystryche ; oestyr 'oyster' W '. S., (Medd. Mydd.
p. 165 Cymer gregyn oestrys) M. E. oistre, oystre. There is
also a form wstrys (? for wystrys*), wrhich may be for M. E.
oistres, or the variant M. E. form ostres. The form poynt occurs
by the side of pwynt 'point' in Proffwydoliaeth Sibli Ddoeth
p. 276, 'pwynt blaenllym vegis poynt scorpion'.
15. — Simplification of Diphthongs in W. and Br. :
The process of monophthongizing diphthongs is very preva
lent in W. and Br. in their later history. In the written lan-
guage it may be commoner in Br. than in W., but in the
mod. dials, of the latter it is extremely marked.
A . In Br. :
i) In accented syllabes.
a) ae. Even in M. Br. there are traces of the monophthong!-
4O Parry-Williams.
zation of this diphthong. In L. Ch. (M. Br. chart.) mel and
mail 'prince' (W. mael-), men and maen 'store' (W. maen), mes
and woes, 'field' (W. maes), hel andhael 'generous' (W. haefy.
Cf. M. Br. (E.) elguez 'chin' (W. adge(r)llj).
In dial, of Leon it occurs in such words as ke^our (M. Br.
quae%pur9 O. W. caitoir, Mod. W. cedor), belek (M. Br. bae-
key.
It is the general rule in the dials, of Vann. and Treg. (For
the latter see Le Clerc's Grammaire bretonne du dial, de Treg.
§ 12). V. er, Leon, aer, M. Br. aqr ; V. ker, Leon kaer, M.
Br. ca%r\ V. men, Leon mean, M. Br. maen (men)(W. maen).
Treg. vler, \e> l-es = Leon flaer (flear), sae, lae^ (lca£) ; Leon
mae is in Treg. ml.
Before r in the dial, of Vann. a (not e) appears in dareu
(M. Br. da^rou, Leon daerou).
b) ao. Here again Treg. shows a simple vowel for the diph-
thong of Leon.
Leon, tool, kaol, penao^, paotr are in the dial, et Treg. tdl,
kol, peno^potr.
In R. C. 4, p. 66 we find^/o 'rain', which is M. Br. glau,
Leon glao, Vann. glau, W. glaw.
The au of Fr. appears sometimes as au, sometimes as o. In
Fr. itself there are traces of the o- pronunciation from the
14 th. c., but there is evidence that it was a diphthong even
in the i6th. c. (See Meyer-Liibke's Historische Gram, der
Fran^. Sprache, § 92).
au occurs in M. Br. (E.) autramaut 'autrement' ; L. Ch.
a canss 'a cause' (cf. R. C., 9, p. 348, ha ma oun cam Vest
moi qui suis cause'); faiit "'faute' (M. Br. fault).
o occurs in R. C., 24, p. 266 evit an debocb($zT la debauche) ;
R. C., 9, p. 162 ocmantin 'augmenter' ; R. C., 9, p. 198 ar
somon ^esaumon'.
Note : — For the dial, interchange of au> o, a see R. C.,
16, p. 220.
c) oe(oa, oua).
Traces of simplification appear in M. Br. (E.) toem 'hot,
warm' and tom\ toemaff and tomaff cto warm' (W. twym,
Similarity in the Phonology oj Welsh and Breton. 41
ticymo); in L. Ch. (M. Br. chart.) ronant and want for O.
Br. roiant; cf. also off(puaff) 'I am', Mod. Br. oun, by the
side of W. wyf, and M. Br. ros 'he gave' (from reiff'to give')
by the side of was, reas, W. rhoes (from rhoddi, rhoi 'to give').
In one case oe = e, M. Br. loiter Mod. Br. loer, pi. fcrott (W.
llawdr Hod rail).
In the dial, of Treg. # appears for the o# of Leon ; Leon
bloa = Treg. bid (W. blwydd from blwyddyn).
d) on.
In M. Br. Chart. (I. C/?.)/>0/i(with a diphthong) has a bye-
form pa (O. Br. pou from Lat. pagits, W. /w//). Other M. Br.
forms in proclisis are pen, pe.
e) ei.
In Br. leal 'loyal', if it is, according to L.E.(H.), borrow-
ed from O. Fr. leial, ei has become e. But the form leal
appears in Fr. up to the iyth. c.
2) In unaccented syllables.
a) ae.
In the dial, of Vann. e generally appears for ae. In Br. -^
corresponds to the W. -aeth in substantives. In Br. balan,
banal (M. Br. balayi), halan (M. Br. ala^n) a appears in the
unaccented syllable, whereas in other cases it would be ae.
Cf. esa by the side of csae from. Fr. essai ; ema cis' W. y mae.
b) oe.
The M. Br. oe generally becomes in later Br. o. M. Br.
nadoe^, Mod. Br. nado%_ ; M. Br. baradoes, baradoe^, and bara-
dos, Mod. Br. barado~ ; M. Br. cadoer, Mod. Br. kador(W.
cadair)-, M. Br. parrpes (parres), Mod. Br. paro^ (R. C., 12,
p. 204 en he barrou^ 'dans la paroisse') ; M. Br. patrimon by
the side of patrimoen, Fr. patrimoine ; M. Br. jrn'/o/ by the
side of scruitoer, scruytouer, Fr. ecritoire ; M. Br. cantoell, Mod.
Br. ^wto/ (cf. M. Br. cantoller by the side of cantoeller 'chan-
delier') ; M. Br. ystpar, his tor, hystor, Fr. histoire; M. Br.
henoe^, henoa%, heno^ (W. -noelti). Cf. M. Br. mor^pl (R. C.,
3, p. 64 gand he vor^olion ravec ses marteaux') with W. wor-
thwyl. For >; in such cases in the dial. ofBatz, see^. C., n,p. 357.
42 Parry -Williams.
c) The O. Br. pi. ending ou, which was a diphthong, like the
W. ou (Mod. W. ait) is a monophthong in Mod. Br. (Leon
ou, Treg. o) ; Vann. eu is still a diphthong.
B. In W. :
Diphthongs are commonly monophthonized in the W. dia-
lects.
i) In accented syllables.
In this case the exs. are mainly monosyllables with a long
element in the diphthong.
a) ae.
gwdd (gwaed. Williams Pantycelyn has -ad rhyming with it) ;
Sir Gar (for Sir Gaer-fyrddin 'Carmathenshire') ; trad and whdr
in S. W. ({or traed and chwaer). In N. W. ma is used for mat
before consonants. In S. W. bldn (blaen), drdn, (dram), etc.
In words of more than one syllable the following forms
occur N. W. :
cluar (claear), duar (daear), goriwarad (goriwaered), hyrllig
(kaerllug), huar (haerarn).
b)*.
In S. W. oe > 6 in such words, as crds (croes, which is
rhymed with -6s by Williams Pantycelyn), ddd (ddoe), llor
lloer), on (pen), etc .
In words other than monosyllables cogio (? from coegio) and
oddwn (for oed-dwn).
c) wy.
In N. W. gwr (gwyr), nbw (~toy)j pw (^y). In words of
more than one syllable there are forms like twmo (twymo),
mwar duon (mwyar duon). twmpath (M. W. twynpatri).
d) ei.
cerch, cyrch (ceircri) ; Rhyl is supposed to stand for yr HyJ =
yr Heil i. e. 'the salt-places' ; gwerglodd (gweirglodd*) isio
(eisieu), ista, iste (eistedd), ni(n)dio (neidio) pidio (pddio). Ct.
O. W. caitoir gl. pube, Mod. W. ctdor. In S. W. girie is
heard for geiriau.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 43
e) yw.
cliuad or dived (clywecT), cwad (from cywad from cywod from
cyfod), dwad (dyzved*), riusut (rytusitfy, rhwbath, rhwbeth (rhyiv
beth), si wan (for slywen for Uysywen).
f) ow.
nulio (for rowlio from E. roll), Wan (Owain). The M. W.
gorffowys is in Mod. W. gorffwys or gorffwyso.
2) In unaccented syllables.
a) ae, (ait).
In Gwynedd generally a ; in other districts (except Glamor-
gan, which has a) it is e :
caffal, caff el (caffaef) ;gadal, gadel (gadaeT) ; gafal, gafel(gafael);
warchogath, -eth (niarchogaetfc) In N. W. Caernarfon is pro-
nounced Cyrnarfon or Cynarfon.
an (especially in pi. endings) undergoes the same charge as
ae, as both have the same pronunciation.
b) at, (ei).
In Gwynedd it becomes usually a, elsewhere mostly e :
cadar, cader (cadair) ; bigal, bigel (bugaiT) ; cyftath, cyfleth
cyflaith ; dima, dime (dimai) ; fealla (feallai), as in all verbal
forms in -at ; simdda, simdde (simddai or simnai 'chimney') ;
siwrna, siwrne (siwrnai journey'). Cf. Mod. W. erioed for
M. W. eiryoet).
The diphthongization seems tobe not of at but of the ear-
lier ei in such N. W. forms as :
ky chin (by chain, pi. of byckari)', erill (eraill) ; ifinc (ieuainc,
pi. of ieuanc) ; llygid (llygaid, pi. of llygad). Cf. the literary
forms bustych, pi. oi bustach ; tywyrch, pi. of tywarchen. The
endings -ais, aist of the Aorist have the forms -as, -ast; -es,
-est ; -is, -ist in different localities.
c) wy.
canmull (cannwyll) ; morwn and morwm (jnorwyti) ; neilhiwr
(also literary, for neithiwyr)', ydw(ydwyf'\ am').
d) oe.
In the pi. ending-o^ it is pronounced o in the spoken
language; ydoedd is pronounced ydodd, and eisoes, cisos.
44 Parry . Williams .
e) yw.
gwrw (gwryw) ; banw pi. bnivod (for benyw benywod ?)
'female'.
f) Forms like llaweroedd (from llawer) and newyddion (from
newydd) are sometimes pronounced llwerodd, nwddion, with
the u» as vowel in both cases.
16. -- Contraction of Vowels in W. and Br. :
Examples of contraction, often arising from the loss of an
intervocalic consonant or h, are fairly common in W. and
Br.
A. In Br. :
In R. C., 7, p. 308, the following exs. of contraction are
given : — M. Br. goanac 'hope' (W. gofynag) ; Leon gouer,
Vann. goxre, 'a streamlet' (W. gofer); Leon diomrel 'to be
deprived of, Treg. divoeret (W. dioftraf) ; Vann. pile (in the
compound tress-plec 'pillow'), Leon pluek, M. Br. pluflec (W.
plu-og, with plu for pluf)\ M. Br. coabrennou (counted as 3
syllables) 'clouds', conffablen in the Catholicon, for *couff-
oabren.
To these may be added :
M. Br. (E.) douar, doar (counted as one syllable) 'earth' /
Mod. Br. keit, for M. Br. quehit (cf. M. Br. chart. L. Ch. kehe-
deult) — W. cyhyd, tyd; L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart.) ham by the
side of houarn, O. Br. hoiarn, W. haearn (S. W. harn)\ and
hernin, O. Br. hoiemin, W. hai'ernin ; cf. M. Br. lie, licq, Fr.
latqife, W. //^; (the Br. word, like the W._, may be form
Lat. laicus) ; 1 reg. pini for Leon pg^m/.
B. In W.
Lib. Land, bet (O. W. behet hirmain 'as far as the stone') ;
Mod. W. cyd for cyhyd(Lib. Land, cihif)', cael by the side of
cajjael (M. W. cahel, cael, caffael, caffel) ; M. W. cahat and
cat ; Mod. W. cddd — cafodd ; f^^J — cafwydd; ceis = cefais;
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 45
cod = cyfod ; dod = dyfod ; dwyno =• difwyno ; daer = daear
(M. W. dayar, dayr}; dof — deuaf ; da I It (dial.) = dealt
(M. W. dyalfy ; gwddd =gwahodd ',gaeaf, cf. O. W. gaem ; hew
(S. W.) == heol • harn (S. W.) = = haearn ; Llyn = Lleyn ;
niwl - - nifwl ; paun from lat. pavon-is ; twyll (N. W.) —
tywyll ; twllwch ; tywyllwch ; /<ry/"« for ^rw ; Cymraeg = Cym-
rdeg (cf. Z). G. Hyd )T a'r iaith Gymraeg | A hyd y tyf
hadau teg.).
The denominative suffix- hau stands for ha-u (cf. O. W.
yscamnhegint). The M. W. sarhaad or sarhaat is in Mod. W.
sarhdd. From the W. loanword from E., ^r/iz, there is a deri-
vative berfdd, from the loanword topfl a pi. form copdu.
Mod. W. rr0£W seems to stand for *crohen or crochen ; cf.
Br. krocbenn. In N. W. gwldu stands for gwelaau plur. of gwday
which must have existed by the side of gwely. In the modern
E. dial, of Cheshire goela still exists.
17. -- Haplology in W. and Br. :
A. In Br. :
M. Br. be% 'them art', for *be%e^ ; marvoad for moarvad =
//# ^ oar ^r f^ "I know well' (Fed. § 224). In R. C., 31,
p. 136, two other Br. exs. are given : Br. (Treg.) Mibini
(in such an expression as mond helibini 'aller a qui mieux
mieux') for helipebini (== ? e ry peb-ini) ; Br. (Treg.) kdb de
'capable of, with kdb for kapabl ou kapapl, from Fr. capable.
The place-name Rostrenen (M. Br. Chart. Ros-draenen, Ros-tre-
nen, W. fktf, draeneri) is pronounced Rostren.
B. In W. :
a// CI get, shall have', may be for cafaf by haplology, or
from ca-af through the loss of / between vowels ; cf. Br.
(L. Ch.) cafaf fje trouve'. But M. W. has also caffaf by the
side of caf, which seems to point to two separate forms of the
Verb. The different forms of cad and gafael have been dealt
with at length by Prof. Thurneysen in Ein Freibnrger Fesl-
gntss %um Junfimd%wanygjdhrigen Doctor jiibilanm (Hermann
Osthoff), %um 14.' August 1894. Constinobl 'Constantinople'
46
occurs in M. A. p. 328 ; in Campaii Cbarlymcten the form
Corstinobyl is found. In the Mod.. M. W. dial, the following
forms are used, - - pura for papurau 'papers' ; pasa or pasu
for pwrpasa, pwrpasu cto intend', from E. purpose ; tysan for
tatysen, singulative form of tatws from E. 'tatoes = potatoes ;
seiat or seiad for *soseiat, *soseiad from E. society. Cf. N. W.
dyfnu for diddyjnu 'to wean'.
CONSONANTS
Here will be treated some peculiarities common to W. and
Br. of certain initial, medial and final consonants. (For fur-
ther initial, medial and final changes, see § 30-48.)
18. -- I. Initially.
A frequent interchange of voiced and voiceless consonants
(mostly 'stops') is noticeable in W. and Br. Some of the
changes may be due to the influence of iMutation, others to
the direct influence of final sounds in foregoing words.
A. Br. Exs. :
i) Due to no special or direct influence of a neighbouring
sound. Many are loanwords.
d > * : L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart) Trech- in Trechguoret (O. Br.
drier)) ; Trestan (cf. W. Drystan, Trystan ; and Drustagni iound
on an inscription) ; Treg. tar-wed, plur. form of the M. Br.
daroueden(W. tarw(y)deii) ; L. E. (£/".) talier, possibly from
Fr . darriere (later derriere).
t > d . dube 'a dove' is from O. Fr. ////^'according to R. C.,
23, p. 120.
b > p : M. Br. poesell 'boisseau' (also M. Br. boesell, cf.
W. bwysel and pwysel 'bushel').
p >> b : M. Br. baradoe^, barados 'paradise' (W. paradwys),
but in bas-vann. paradoes is still found, see Vann. (Ch.) s. v.;
M. Br. bolot from Fr. pelote; Mod. Br. bok (pok) ca kiss'.
g >> k (i) : L. E. (H.) has klisia from Fr. glisser, kros from
Fr. gros, ki^ (glr) from Fr. guise ; Tr. has klagn {gfagn, glann,
W. glati) ; Le Gon. towers (gouers, W. givers}. The change of
4$ Parry-tPilliams.
g to k is found in some words in the Vann. dial, of Sarzeau
(seetf. C., 3, p. 235).
c > g : Mod. Br. golched (O. Br. colcet, W. cyfeM) ; M. Br.
gakouat (coubat, Mod. Br. kaouad, W. cawod, cawad) ; M. Br.
(E.) ganivet 'canivet (canif)' ; Br. Glaude 'Claude'. In the
dial, of Vannes several words have initial g where Leon has
£(&), e.g. Vann. gor%ehn, garell -- Leon corsenn,caerell.
2) Changes due to the influence of some preceding sound.
a) In the Vann. dial, of Sarzeau the initial v of forms ot
the Verb 'to be' is changed to/ when immediately preceded
by d-9 see R. C., 3, p. 335, where the following exs. are given
greet mad fou 'it will be well done', devead fet 'you will be
late'.
With these may be compared the similar change after e%,
M. Br. effififf (= er vi^iff), effe (= e% ve), effoe (== e^ voe). In
L. Ch. we find e feo (— o^veiuo) 'en train de vivre, vivant'.
b) In the Vann. dial, of Fauoe't after hi (poss. pron. fern.)
the initial consonants b, d, g become/), t, c\ see R. C., 9, p.
273, where the following exs. are given : hi preclo 'her
arm' (W. ei braich), hi torn 'her hand' (W. ei dwrri), hi car
'her leg".
c) d immediately following an s has become / in Ros-tre-
nen, L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart.) Ros-draenen, Ros-trenen from draen
'thorn' W. draen. Cf. W. glas-dwr from glas -\- ddwr, Br.
krestei^ 'mid-day' (krei% -f dei%). In Mod. Br. d frequently
becomes / after s, bennes Tone (Doue, W. Duw 'God'), see
Ernault, Petite Grammaire Bretonne, §§ 9, 10.
B. W. Exs. :
i) Not due to the direct influence of the final sound of a
preceding word .
d > / : tychan or tuchan (for dychari) ; tyuys-en 'ear of covn'
(Ir.dias); tas 'stack, heap' (O. W. das, 6. Br. plur. desi
gl. acervos, Mod. Br. das, Ir. dais} ; twrdd, tordd 'noise' (Ir.
dord), trythyll, trythyllwch (M. W. drythyll, Ir. dreliU and t re-
till) ; trum 'ridge' (Ir. druim) ; trem, tremyn (M. W. dremynf) ;
Siniiltiritv in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 49
tyred 'come thou' (M. W. dyred) ; tyro ' ? for dyro in M. A.
p. 287 ; tesni in the expression dweyd tesni 'to tell fortunes'
from. E. destiny ; tyfn (N. W.) for diufn 'deep'. Among the
loanwords from E. cf. taslio (E. daigle) ; tracht (in Williams
Pantycelyn, for the commoner dracht ; M. E. draught, draht) ;
tyciae (E. decay), tamp (E. damp), tip (E. dip) ; W. S. has titio
'endyte', the commoner W. form being ditio, which may be
from some aphetic form of E. endite.
b > p : poed for boed (from bod 'to be'). Among the loan-
words from E. : palff (in B. Cwsc) ? E. bluff', pastwn (pas-
iii'iii) E. baston ; paivns? E. bounce; pevel (N. W.) E. bevel ; pit
E. bit (of a horse) ; piwsio (dial.) E. 'buse - - abuse ; paldaruo
(dial.)? E. balder (with the ending -uo formed ofter rhuo 'to
roar'); plagiardio (N. W.) E. blackguard; planced E. blanket ;
potel early E. hotel 'a bottle' ; pone E. bank ; pwysel (hwysel) E.
bushel (the W. from may be due to the influence ot pwys
'weight') ; pwnsiad (b-wnsiad) E. bunch.
p > b : The forms bwci, bwysi, bwytalwys are occasionally
found for pwci (== pwca) 'puck', pwysi fposy', pytatws 'pota-
toes'.
g > c : Cwilym (in some dials.) for Gwilym 'William' ;
among the loanwords from E. the following occur : ctr E.
gear M. E. gere (D. G., p. 86 Myn f'enaid gwiw, afraid ger) :
ceriach is an extented form of cer; coblyn E. goblin, corsied ?
E. gorget in L. G. C. p. 371 Corsied o waith ceiroes dur;
cnoi ? E. gnaiu ; cripio ? E. grip ; cropian E. grope ; cwsberis E.
gooseberries; calpian(N. W.) E. gallop; kwyset (W . 5.) E.
gusset.
c >> g : grisial, grisiant are found side by side with the
forms crisial, crisiant; groffl, found in the Mab. (Manawy-
ddan) 'hpugrofft', may be the E. croft. In Cardiganshire there
is a mutated form in the place name Rofft for Y Rofft.
2) Changes due to the influence of a preceding sound.
a) In a M. S. of the Venedotian code of the Laws of
Howel Dda^- is provected to k : (i) after the particle e (= y,
i. In tyro the ty- may be a trace of the older form of the prefix.
PARRY-\VILLIAMS. — These. 4
50 Parry -Williams.
earlier also yd), e.g. ekeilland eckeyll; (2) after the conjunction
o, e.g. okeyll. In R. B. H. d > t after y (for yd} in 'y duw
y tiolchaf (See R. C., II, p. 68).
In some of the early W. Mss. the d of dau 'two' becomes t
after ill, as illdeu or illtau, mostly written as one word.
b) In M. W. the form athiffero is found for a'th ddiffero
'may (he) protect thee' ; patbawr = pa-th-ddawr 'what does
it concern thee' ?
Note : -- A curious example of the provection of an initial
consonant, due to the loss of a vowel and the influence of
the following initial consonant, is found in the case of the
possessive pronoun /y, which becomes often in the colloquial
language /', and before h, II, or i becomes ff. In some dialec-
tal texts this ff is written, e.g. fi ff' unan (for fi fy hunan),
ffllaw (= fy Haw), ff'iecbyd (== fy iechyd). Cf. cannw(y)ll
ffrwyn the colloquial pronunciation of cannwyll frwyn.
19. — An isolated ex. ofBr. cb from; appears in Br. charons
from Fr. jarosse.
20. —Initial R and RH in W. and Br. :
According to Fed. (§ 89), r had in Celtic two values, one
with 'unlenated' pronunciation, the other with 'lenated' pro-
nunciation. Initially the unlenated r became a 'voiceless'
sound in W. This, as a rule, is not the case in Br., where r
has generally no 'voiceless' value. In W., however, it is the
general rule, even in loanwords from E., except in the latest
borrowings, whe: e initial r is often found (e.g. B. Cwsc recorder
'recorder', rcdi 'ready'; Huw Morus has Rowndiad 'Round-
head').
Traces of the same initial vorceless r (rti) have been found
in the Br. dials, e.g. in dial, of Cornouaille (see R. C., 3, p.
492), and in a text written in the dial, of Vann. (viz. a
translation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, dating from
1818. See R. C., n, p. 180). In the Vann. text an h is atta-
ched to the initial r as in W., but it comes before the r in
the Br. text. Under 'voiced'-mutation, the h is dropped leav-
Similarity in tin' Phonology of Jl'elsb and Breton. 51
ing only r, as in W. His proves that the form br is not a
mere orthographical ornament. The forms found are hreit, hrac
hraccen ; (e) ras, (ne) rat, (e) eridas.
Note : In Eastern S. W. initial rh is very seldom heard,
the voiced r generally taking its place.
21. -- Initial Gw- and Chw- in W. and Br. :
The interchange of giv- and chiu- initially is a peculiar
phenomenon in W. and Br. Although the radical and earlier
form seems to be gw (for *//-), yet there are one or two words
with chv- as the probable radical form.
. The most noteworthy ex. is chwarae (chwareu or chware)
by the side of older forms with gw (gu). In the M. W. texts
of the Mab. both forms appear, and these not far apart, In
O. W. the form with gu- is prevalent, e.g. O. W. guarai,
giiaroion. M. W. has chware, gware (verb and subs, with pi.
gwaryeu), M. Br. hoari, Mod. Br. choari ; M. W. gwarwyfa
(D. G. Dug warwyfau digrifwch), Mod. W. chiuareuja(n)
'playground'. O. W. has giiec in the Gododdin 1. 1041 guec a
gnero {swTeet and sour' (M. Br. huecund cbuec, Mod. Br. cbouec),
M. W. and Mod. W. chweg ; guero is M. W. and Mod. W.
chwerw (O. Ir. serb with s for su, M. Br. hueru, huero). Lib.
Land, has chidth and guitb ; O. W. guardam, Mod. W.
chwerihin (chwarddaf T smile') M. Br. huer%in, Mod. Br.
c'hoer<in. In the W. dials., however, gwerlhin is found for
chwerthin ; cf. also Gwefrol for Chwefrol (Cbwefror) ; damch-
ivain by the side of damwain ; (g)wedyn and chwedyn ; gwedi
and chwedi ; gwibod and chwibod 'gnats'.
An ex. among the loanwords from Lat. is ckwysigxi, for
which gwysigen is also found, M. Br. huysiguenn, O. Br.
huisicoH (gl. papulas). Lat. veslca. Stokes (Br. Gl. 0. s. v.
huisicoii) compares W. chwanmn, Br. choanenn with the
German Wan%e.
The M. Br. (E.) goagren 'petite glande entre la chair et le
cuir' seems to be related to W. chwaren of the same meaning.
The W. gweryru 'to neigh' appears to be connected with Br.
chouirinaden and gourrisiaden 'a neighing' (For the pronun-
ciation of gou- and cbou- in the various Br. dials, see R. C}
18, pp. 236 sqq.).
5 i Parry-Williams.
22. - - With the foregoing may be compared the inter-
change of initial g and c'h in Breton, when not followed by
a consonantal w\ e. g. :
gallout and bailout £to be able', W. gallu; chouse fto eat',
chousach Nourishment', supposed to be derived from the
O. Fr. popular form gousser ctoeat'.
There may also be compared the W. initial ch arising from
qu- of E. and Lat., e. g. chwarthawr in .R. B. H., p. 281
(Kulhwch ac Olwen), from Lat. quartdrius; chwart, E. quart',
chwarely E quarrel \ chwarter, E quarter, chwitans, E. quit-
tance ; M. W. Chwuftus 'Quintus'.
E. wh- becomes .W. chw-, e. g. D. G.*cGildiad, nid chwil-
wasad hallt', E. whitewash ; W. S. chwarfan 'a wharve' ;
chwip 'whip', chwislo (dial.) 'to whistle'.
This change occurs in W. itself in such a dial, form as
chwiadan •< *ljwiadan <C hwyaden 'duck', pi. chwid.
23. — Initial Gw- in W. and Br. :
Initial Gw- followed by a vowel or by liquids and nasals
present various peculiarities of like nature in W. and Br.
i) When followed by some vowels, the gw tends to absorb
the wowel,the w becoming a vowel. But when followed by
o, thegw generally loses the consonantal w, and the o
remains intact. This is not always the case, however, as the
guo- sometimes interchanges with gua-, e. g. W. gwas-
god, Br. gwasked, Ir. foscad; W. golcbi but Br. gwalchi'9
cf. iM. W. (Black Book) (g)woscordd, Mod. W. goscordd (See
R. C., 29, p. 68); W. gwastad, M. Br. goustadic, Mod. Br.
gouestadic ; Br. Gl. 0. gutric, W. godrig ; the Br. intensive
prefix gour- corresponds to W. gor-(in gormod, gorddyfn etc.).
Cf. further W. gwr, Br. gour; W. gum, Br. gonn (Treg.),
(M. W. has gwdam, gwdost etc. = Mod. W. gwyddom
gwyddoch) ; W. gwobr, Br. gobr, gopr ; W. gwedi, Br. goude ;
W. gweliy Br. gouly ; W. $ofcbymyn9 Br. gourchemen ;
W. goddef(O. W. guodeimisaucJi), Br. gou^ajf; W. gwrtaith,
In fortacht.
In spoken W. the loss of a vowel is common, the w
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 53
becoming a vowel, e. g. gwnnu for gwynnu ; cf. Sulgwn for
Sulgwyn .
There is a tendency in the N. W. dial, to drop the w in
such words as gialam (gwialeii) ; gialchan (for gwialchen
for mwyalchen), cf. r/;f (for clnui), chadal (for chwedT).
In Br.and W.an u/or ^appears sometimes to have been added
superfluously, e. g. M. Br1 . goarnison by the side of garnisoni
Fr. garnison ; cf. gahrn and 'gualern in J?. C., 27, p. 223 ; Le
Gon. gwaremm cgarenne'. In W. we find gwalab 'gallop' in
W. S., and in Bozun o Hamtwn, p. 142 a cherdet gwalop y
danaw.
2) When 07/- is followed by /, n, or r we may have either
a) Metathesis, gid, gun, giir >> glii, gnu, grn,
or b) Loss of// altogether;
or c) it becoming a vowel.
a) Metathesis.
In Br. -.gloat (W. gwlad) ; gheb (W. gwlyb);
ghd^ (W. gwlitrj); groec, gruec(W. gwraig}',
gloan (W. gwlan)\ groach (W. gwradj).
In W. : It occurs mostly in the N. W. dial., where the
combinations gwr-, givl-, gwn- are pronouced grw-, glw-,
gnw-, but the w is pronounced more or less simultaneously
with the r, /, n ; e. g. glwad (gwldd); glwith (gwlitti), glwdn
(giuldn), grwaig (gwraig*), gmv'io {gwriio).
Some traces of this pronunciation are found in the Vene-
dotian Code of the Laws of Howel, e. g. grueic, gruaget,
gluad(fox Mod. W. gzuraig, gwragedd, giulad).
b). Total loss of the u.
In Br. : gra (by the side of groa, W. gwna) ; greg by the
side of groec,gruec; gleb (O. Br. rogulipias, M. Br. gleb, gloeb,
Treg.gloeb. Leon has gleb and gloefr) ; gli% by the side of M.
Br. ghii%, W. gwlit~h', griat (M. Br. gruyat, Vann. gouriai).
M. Br. has^^ and gloat, pi. gladou ; grach and groach.
In W. : The change is perceptible mainly in the mod.
spoken language, e. g. :
i . Apparent only, as Breton here really shows traces of the older Fr.
pronunciation .
54 Parry-Williams.
gndf(gwnaj\ grondo, grando (gwrando),glaiu (gwlaw ; but
glaw is an early literary form), glyb, glybwr (gwlyb, gwlybwr},
gneud (gwneud) etc. Cf. grafun for gwrafun for gwarafttn. In
grug we have a literary form for *gwrug (O. I.,froich).
In Pembrokeshire, howewer, it is pronounced gurug.
In the district around Llanidloes one hears glad (givldtfy,
graig (gwraig).
c) The u becoming a vowel u.
In Br. this seems to be the case in a word like Vann.
gouriat, M. Br. gruyat 'made'.
In W. it occurs in parts of S. W. in such forms as gwnio
(two syllabes) for gwnio, gwniadur. In Carmarthenshire the
common form is gwynio.
24. — Initial //in W. and Br. :
This initial letter seems to have been the most unstable of
all in W. and Br.
Early initial s in native words, and the initial s of Latin
gave in W. and Br. s and h; sometimes s in both and h in
both ; sometimes s in one and h in the other, and vice
versa; sometimes s and h in both. For exs. see Fed. §§ 47,
135-
The forms with h initially sometimes drop and sometimes
retain the h, without any special reason. Occasionally h is
added to a word beginning with a vowel, without any appa-
rent etymological reason, being, no doubt, partly orthogra-
phical.
The lack of stability on the part of initial h dates from
the very earliest period of W. and Br. Exs. :
O. W. hyshaf (Mod. W. isaf), O. W. ha (M. W. ha(c\
Mod. <<:)), O. W. ocoluin (Mod. W. hogalen but M. W.
agalen, M. Br. bygoulen, Mod. Br. bigoknn, Vann. higuolenn),
O. W. hint, int (Mod. W. hyni), O. W. ho (Mod. W. o)>
O. W. anter-metetic (M. W. anher,hanber, Mod. W. banner);
W. and Br. have oil, Ml 'all' ; M. W. wy (hwy), wynt for
later hwy, hwynt.
Further traces of the indecision with regard to initial h may
be seen from the following :
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 55
Breton : L. Ch.(O. Br. Chart.) Haethhn, Hethlon, Aithlon;
(? W.aetV) ; L. Chr. (M.Br. Chart. )ael, haelon (W.ael) ;Amhedr,
Hamherd1 ? argant2, harchant ; he= e 'his, its'; M. Br. emolch
hemolch', herr (from fr.-erre) ; herue^, erwe^; hogos (W. agos);
honest, attest ; hostes, ostes (but ospital, ipocrisy, isop); hoguen
(W. og-faen) ; hu^el, hudel, udel (W. huddygt). in L. Ch.
we find hevelep, evelep; hep, ep; oil, holl; o%, ho%; o, ho.
Welsh :
In W. the same indecision obtains, especially in the dials.
In N. W. hagos(ago$), henw (emu; henw also occurs in M. W.);
hogla (arogl), hepil (epil). In eastern S. W. h is frequently
dropped, and sometimes an inorganic h is added, e. g. ardd
(hardd), en (hen), hyfed (yfed), hadref (adref), haraf (araf),
hinuellt (irwellf).
In connection with initial /; in the E. words borrowed into
W. the following may be quoted from E. E. P. p. 220 :
« The question concerning h is simply, when was it mute ?
Palsgrave says h is mute in honest, honour, habundance... »
W. S. says that h is mute in « honest, habitation, humble,
habite, honoure 3 ».
As a general rule, initial h of E. is preserved in W. In a
few words, however, the h seems to have been mute in early
E. or non-existent in some words where h appears
Mod. E.
W. onest (gonest, E. honesty, oribl in L. G. C. p. 165. £Hed
cred ac anghred a'u gwyr yn oribl* (E. horrible), ostes (E.
hostess) in Cym. Lien Cym., II, p. 22 'Osles, llenwch win',
ostler (E. hostler, ostler) found in D. G., liar (E. Hilary,
M. E. Hyllare) in L. G. C.,p. 30 cDewi,Non, Elis, Dwynwen,
liar'.
We have seen above (§ 18 B. 2) how/' (for fy) becomes
ff before a following /?,as in' ffhunan or ffunan for/)' hunan.
With this we may compare Ernault, Petite Grammaire Bre-
tonne, p. 13 :
1. O. Br. Am-.
2. W. arian(t).
5. In Fr., the Latin b was, of course, mute throughout from earliesft
times.
5 6 Parry- Williams .
« Les consonnes fortes et faibles peuvent s'e"changer a la
fin des mots. D'ordinaire les faibles dominent devant une
voyelle initiale, et les fortes devant un /7, qui alors ne se pro-
nonce pas ».
Initial /? arising in some cases of ' mutation' is regular in
W., and is not unfrequently found in Br. also. This case of
aspirate-mutation occurs in W. after the poss. pron. fern, ei
'her', e. g. eihernv cher' name'. A trace of the same kind of h
is seen in Br. in the dial, of Vann. (Canton de Gue"mene-sur-
Scorff) e. g. / halhwe 'her key', but i alhwe 'his key'. It is
said to occur also in the dials, of Cornouaille and Treg. (see
R. C., 17, p. 39).
W. also shows an aspirate-mutation of n, m} and w. This is
even mentioned in some grammars, and is found occasio-
nally in Mod. W. literature, e. g. ei mhynwes, ei nhain, ei
whig (see Y Beirniad, Vol. II, p. i63-Hydref 1912). In the
spoken language of N. W. nh, mh, wh are almost uni-
versally prononced after ei 'her'. The cases with wh are all
found in the E. loanwords.
The mutation of m to mh after ei 'her' is also found in Br.
(in the dial, of Faoue't, Haute-Cornouaille), where the m
sounds more like a 'surd' than a 'sonant' (See R. C.> 17,
p. 421). For further changes in initial consonants see §§ 30-
33-
25. II. - - Medially.
Here will be mentioned only the exs. of changes in medial
consonants in W. and Br. where normally they would not
be expected to appear.
A. In Br. :
i) Exs. of voice less consonants for voiced, generally in
loanwords from Fr.
akloueten (Fr. aguillette, L. E. (#.) ; atersein (Fr. sadresser
L. E. (H.); tumpa (O. Fr. tumber 'tomber') and tumporell
(Fr. tombereaii) R. C., 7, p. 144; ocmantin (in 'da ocmantin
he gloar' — ftaugmenter sa gloire, R. C., 9, p. 162); vacabont
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 57
(in 'evel eur vacabonf = comme un vagabond, R. C., n,
P. 3o8).
2) Voiced for voiceless, e. g.
Tr. has kabiten (Fr. capitqine), kaboun (Fr. chapon), kabusin
(fr.capucin), sagrist and sakrist(Fr. sacristain)', L. E. (//.) has
gobedi (O. Fr. copeter 'copter'), tragas (Fr. tracas)\ Le Gon.
ovis and ofis (Fr. office), tabes (Fr. tapis) ; podaich (Fr.
potage).
Some of these forms may be due to an attempt to give
the words a native appearance, as voiceless consonants
between vowels are comparatively late in Br. and W.
Intervocalic 5- seems to have acquired a voiced (^) sound
early in Br. Sometimes * is found written, e. g. frenesyznd
frene^sy (Fr. frenesie1) in the 18 th. C., but there are exs. from a
still earlier period (see footnote R. C., 15, p. 390).
On the other hand, the ^ of M. Br. appears as d in some
Mod. Br. dials, e. g. the dial, of Cornouaille has predek, beudein
for M. Br. pre^ec, beu^iff; dial. ofTreg. has hidio, didiou for
M. Br. hi%iut di%iou\ dial, of Leon has barado^ for M. Br.
B. In W. :
i) Voiceless for voiced.
In parts of S. W. voiceless consonants appear between
vowels, where in other dials, the voiced equivalents appear.
This takes place mostly in the Gwentian dial. (East Glamorgan
and Monmouth). Prof. Rhys does not regard these as exactly
voiceless, but as lying somewhere between the voiceless and
the voiced ; e. g. rytag (rhedeg), ffitog (ar-ffedog), creli (credii),
otw (ydwyf) , precath (pregetli), givetodd (dywedodd), acor (agor),
etc.
In literary W. a voiced consonant coming before another
consonant or consonantal #, /, is generally written in its
voiceless form, e. g, atgof, atgas, Coetmor (Coed-Maiur}, M.
W. eturyt (=edfryd from adferyd); llygatddu and Hygatu(frOm
i. The Fr. 5 in this case would, of course, be voiced.
58 Parry-Williams.
lygad-ddu) llygatlast (lly gad-las}', M. W. atwaen. (Mod.
W. adwaen); neitio, neitiwr (L. G. C. Neitiwr dros afon
ytoedd. The form neitio is used in the Anglesey dial.) cf.
atolwg (from adolwyn). After the numeral dau in compounds
there is no mutation in the words deutu, deuparth, denpeth,
oddeutu.
In M. W. we find ythiw, ydiw ; yttynt, ydynt; yttwyj,
ydwyf; yttoed, ydoedl/for the Mod. W. ydyw, ydynt, ydwyf,
ydoedd (cf. Gwentian otw, otuch for ydwyf, ydych") ; M. W.
anghenoctid from anghenog.
Among the loanwords from the following may be exs. :
cocas (M. E. cogges), Etwart (Edward, R. B. H.., II, p. 377),
Etwin (Edwin, R. B. H.,II, p. 266), Gotwin (Godwin, R. B.
H., II, p. 26j),petigryw (E. pedigree, in L. G. C. At y gwraidd
a'i phetigryw), picyn (E. pig gin), wteniff (E. woode(n)knife, in
lolo Gocb, p. 314), wtwart and wdwart (E. woodward ; D. G.
hzswdwartin cTeg wdwart feistr tew goedallt, p. 231, but Ed.
Lhuyd has wtwart), tricar (dial.) (E. trigger).
The forms cocas, picyn, tricar, and clwpa (M. E. clobbe) may
have developed the c, p from the E. gg, bb.
A case of dd (d) becoming d is seen in W. gweddrod and
gwedrod (pi. form, from E. wether}, gweddrod is the usural
form, but gwedrod is found in Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru1
p. 147 fWedi rhoit ti wedrod da' (leuan Deulwyn), where
the cynghanedd shows that the pronunciation is d.
cf. the Lat. loanwords paradwys (paradisus), pedestr
(pedestr-is), pedol (pedal-is), and the S. W. dial, form itbi
for iddi 'to her', due probably to hi 'her' which generally
follows.
2) Voiceless becoming voiced.
Probable exs. are the following from among the loanwords
from E. .
adargop, adyrgop (E. attercop)', boglyn (? M. E. bode);
burgyn (? E. morkin); candleis in L. G. C. (? Early E.
gantelets) ; fladyr (W . 5.) (E. flatter); ffradri in M. A. p. 35
(? E. fratry, fratery) ; gardas in Mod. W.,gartys in W. 5.,
i. These double M. W. forms probably arose from different forms of
the suffix itself.
Similarity in the Phonology oj Welsh and Breton. 59
gardr, sing., in L. G. C. p. 474 (E. garters); lladmerydd
(E. latimer) ; plagiardio (dial.) (E. blackguard, where the ck,
however, is not pronounced) ; potegari W. S. (E. apothecary);
ysbignardd, Medd. Mydd. p. 202 (E. spikenard); ysgoblar
in D. G. p. 150 'Esgoblun mewn ysgablar* (? E. scapu-
lar).
26. III. — Finally.
A. Final Mutes.
i) In Br.
The modern rule with regard to final mediae and tenues
is given in Ernault's Petite Grammaire brelonne, p. 13 :« Les
consonnes fortes et faibles peuvent s'echanger a la fin des
mots. D'ordinaire les faibles dominent devant une voyelle
initiale, et les fortes devant un h, qui alors ne se prononce
pas » .
In M. Br., however, as in M. W., the rule was to write the
voiceless consonant in the final position in words where Mod.
Br. both the voiced and voiceless forms are found. But when
an ending (as of the plural or feminine) was added to the
voiceless final consonant, the voiceless became voiced.
Hesitation with regard to this change can be discerned in a
form like coatdou, plur. of coat 'wood' in R. C., 8, p. 260,
fdre an Icoatdou (par les bois), and in the M. Br. tatdou,
plur. of tat 'father). Even in M. Br., however, we get fluc-
tuations, e. g. mat and mad ; stoup and sloub; tat and tad.
The treatment of these single final consonants in the
loanwords from Fr. is as follows :
a) A Fr. voiced final consonant may appear in Br. as voice-
less, except when a suffix is added.
b) A Fr. voiceless final consonant may appear in Br. as
voiced (as well as voiceless), but always voiced if a suffix be
added.
a) camarat (Fr. camarade) in R. C., 26, p. 212; malat (Fr.
malade) in R. C., 15, p. 357; M. Br. homicit (Fr. homicide) ;
Herot (Fr. Herode) in R. C., 10, p. 23 ; M. Br. muscat (Fr. mus-
60 Parry- Williams.
code)-, M. Br. remet (Fr. remade) and cf. R. C., 8, p. 488 Dal
vn taol flem heb remet (Tenez un coup d'aiguillon sans
retard); L. E. (HJ) rok (Fr. rogue)-, M. Br. synagoc (Fr.
synagogue); M. Br. ribdut^r. ribautf)bui ribaudes (fern.).
b). L. E. (tf.) has chipod (Fr. cUpote), fared (Fr. /Sr/rrf),
lod (Fr. /of, M. Br. lot), roched (Fr. rqdfef); Tr. has boked (Fr.
bouquet), boukd, boulet (Fr. boulei), ermid (Fr. ermite); Le Gon.
has 5<5£, j0W(Fr. j0/); M. Br. (E.) has hue (Fr. hucque), pic(Fr.
pic), soup (Fr. 50M^), 5tatf (Fr. fiat), stoub, stoup (Fr.
ttoupe). Cf.S. C.,2,p. 82 />0d (Fr. pot), p. 224 salud(Fr. salitffc
p. 240 fom? (bonnet)-, R. C., 3, p. 68 pilad(fr. pilat)', R. C.,
8, p. 462 stoub (Fr. etoupe); R. C., 4, p. 60 pW (Fr. />/0J),
p. 99 avokad (Fr. avocaf).
The voiced consonant when a suffix is added :
M. Br. advocadez, fagoden (Fr. fagot), gargadenn (O. Fr.
gargate), rudet (Fr. rw/), seruiedenn (Fr. serviette), stadou, plur.
of j/dtf (fr. <f/rt/), scodenn (Fr. #£0f), planedou (Fr. planetes), see
also the same form in #. C., 8, p. 234 ; Mod. Br. -laden (Fr.
/0/), mouden (Fr. motte), souben (Fr. 5owp^) in j?. C., 2, p. 80
souben ar c'hik (soupe de viande), M. Br. has also souben.
One exception appears to be M. Br. wwtew for the later
mouden (Fr. motte), mentioned in L. £. (#.).
ATo/^ : With the above mentioned interchange of voiced
and voiceless mutes may be compared the frequent inter-
change in Br. of -aig, -aich (with soft g and cti) from the
Fr. ending -age.
2). In W. :
The fate of the final stops in W. presents several points of
similarity to that of Br. stops. In W. the final tenues did not
hold out so long and so late as in Br. (being kept in the
latter, as we have seen, even up to modern times). It is dif-
ficult, however, to conclude finally at what period the final
tenues of W. became medial. In the M. W. texts they are
generally written as tenues, with the exception of the labial,
which has the forms b and p. This practice is kept up by
W.S. (i6th. c.) in his Welsh-English Dictionary. It may have
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton. 61
been in his time merely the traditional mode of writing ; but
even W. S. writes monosyllables containing long vowels
with the voiced consonant, e. g. koob (E. cope) andpib.
Here are, however, proofs as early as the I4th. c. in the
works of D. G. that in some cases at least, the final voiced
mutes of Mod. W. were also voiced at that period, e. g. :
D. G. p. 33. Gwreledei gwTallt fel gok/gwiw.
D. G. p. 217. 'Y nghred brelad afra^lawn.
The d of 'gweled' corresponds in Cynghanedd to the d of
'gold' which is the E. gold. (There are, however, cases of final
Id of E. becoming //in W., e. g. hwswolt in L. G. C. p. 460,
(E. household) by the side of hwswold, p. 195 ; but the form
gold is the W. form of the wrord throughout, as in gold y'
gors 'marsh marigo/d'). The final d of 'brelad' from cprelad
(E. prelate) corresponds to the d of 'afraJlawn', which, being
medial, was certainly a d.
In any case, in the E. loanwords in W. when an ending
was added, the consonants took the voiced form at a very
early period :
D. G. p. 52 Fflacedau a phlucoedydd (E.jiacket).
p. 284 Cliciedyn yn cloi cem/awd (E. clicket).
In the case of some loanwords from E. the final voiceless
stop is retained even in the modern language.
The question of the final stops has been dealt with to some
extent by Sir John Rhys in his 'All Around the Wrekin'[F
Cymmrodor, Vol. XXI, pp. 32 sqq.].
The treatment of the E. loanwords from W. may be thus
classified.
a) Those that retain the final voiceless consonant.
b) Those that changed the final voiceless consonant into a
voiced consonant.
z)cdt (E. coat),.grdt(E. gate), llac (E. slack), slop (E.
shop), etc.
These words are mostly those of one (short) syllable in E.
Note : — The change of single final voiced consonants to
voiceless, so common in Br., is practically unknown in W.,
unless the word nutmic E. nutmygge, given by W . S. be a
6 2 Parry- Williams .
case in point. The Mod. E. is nutmeg. Here, however, the c
may have arisen from the E. gg. (cf. picyn, clwpa, §2561);
cf., however, W. antarliwt, intarliwt from E. interlude, and
dial, teit from E. tide.
b) This change seems to have taken place
1. in words of more than one syllabe.
2. in monosyllabes containing a long vowel.
Exs. : abid (M. E. abif) in D. G: pp. 48, 207 ; gwalab W. S.
(E. gallop), basged (E. basket), bwnedmL. G. C. (E. bonnet),
bilwg (E. bill-book}, casog (E. cassock), casged in Z. G. C.
p. 295 (E. casket), dared (E. claret), carped (E. carpet), elided
(E. c/i'dfe/), dzitod (E. doublet), ermid in M. J. p. 258 (E.
hermit), garlleg (E. £#/•//£ ; W7. 5. has garllec 'garleke'), /&?/#/
(E. violet), ffagod (E. faggot), miiusig (E. music), proffid in
D. G., p. 247 (E. profit), ysgarlad (E. scarlet, M. E. scarlal)
etc.
to£ in JF. 5., i. e. #$ (E. £0/#), sieb in Z). G., 'Bronbelau
fel Siopau#'$' (E. Cheap, i. e. Cheap-Side, London), £<3d and
cot (E. £<wf), <% (E. cloak), fflyd (E. _/&*/, in sense of 'crowd'),
crwg (E. crook), grod in L. G. C. p. 327 (E. groat), ystdg in
L. G. C p. 495 'Main wag ei ystdg . . .' (E. stake).
B. Changes in some rinal consonantal groups containing
mutes.
21. - i) In some loanwords from Fr. into Br. the
voiced stop became voiceless in the groups Idr, mbr, br,
bl
Exs. ! foultr (O. Fr. fonldre), lampr (Fr. lambre), mempr
(Fr. membre) in J?. C., 2, p. 364, nompr (nombre) in 7?.,
C., 8, p. 88, possipl (Fr. possible) in j?. C., 9, p. 162. Cf. cam-
praou (Fr. chambres)'m R. C., 10, p. 5, puplian (Fr.publier) in
^. C., 26, p. 310, humplan, superl. (Fr. humble) and senclou
(Fr. 5 angles) in L. C/;.
The only probable example of this change in W. is the
M. W. taplas, which may be from E. tables.
In M. Br. there are traces of the opposite change of pi, pr
to bl, br, e. g. :
Similarity in the Phonology of Wehh and Breton. 63
M. Br. (E.) coubl, coublaff (Fr. couple, coupler), poubr (Fr.
pourpre). Cf. M. Br. (E.) squerb (? Fr. echarpe).
28. -2) Breton shows a tendency to change final
-ng of loanwords to nc (nk)1, e. g. :
M. Br. (E.) harinc chareng', Vann. (Ch.) haranc charang'
pi. harancquet (Fr. harangue)', M. Br. (E.) reng, frang', L.
E. (H.) renk 'rang'. (O. Fr. reng)', L. E. (H } stank (Fr.
etang for earlier estang). Tr.has stang and stank. Cf. R. C., 23,
p. 234, 'war ar stank ma kann he dillecT (Sur 1'etang ou elle
lave ses vetements).
For further remarks on Br. ng, nk, see R. C., 19, p. 323.
The change of ng to nc (i.e. ngc) is not unknown to W.
e. g. :
rhenc by the side of rheng fa rank, row', W. S. has renc fa
renge' ; M . E. reng, renge, rengge ;
ystanc by the side of y slang (slanc, slang}, E. stang, M. E.
stange.
It is noticeable, however, that in the E. dials, of Shropshire
and Montgomery the form stank is found (See English
Dialect Dictionary s. v.). This may be due to the W.
form.
Note i. E. final ng in such words as long was equivalenr
fto ng-g at an early period in the language. The g afte
the nasal (ng) was heard throughout the M. E. period. In
Early New E. the g was lost except when a vowel followed,
as is the case in Mod. E.
Note 2. The change of nc to ng is common in W. when
a suffix is added, e. g. crafanc, crafangau ; tranc, trengi; ieuanc
ieuengaf -, M. W. ranc, rengi (Mod. W. rhyngu). But cf. llanc,
llanciaii', pranc, pranciau', bane, banciau ; llwnc, llyncu (but
llyng-yren).
III. 29. -- Final nd, rd of loanwords in W. and Br.
i) In Br. :
i . Possibly this change did not take place in Breton itself, but may be
really only the reflexion of the O. Fr. pronunciation with final nk.
64 Parry- Williams .
In M. Br. the final nd, rd of Fr. appear as a rule with final
/. When a suffix was added the / was sometimes retained
and sometimes changed to d. In Mod. Br., forms with d
and t are common in native and in borrowed words. For the
treatment of medial nd see § 39.
Exs. :
a) Fr. rd: M. Br. (E . ) has astandart O. Fr. estandard x ; bastart
'batard' (but fern, bastardes) ; Bernart 'Bernard' ; bombart 'bom-
barde' ; couart 'couard' (but couardis 'couardise') ; goarl 'garde' ;
lart 'lard'; leopart 'leopard'; loumbart Lombard' (but fern.
loumbardes)-, nort 'nord'; papellarl 'papelard' ; pillard 'pil-
lard'; pailhart 'paillard'.
Cf. Vann. (Ch.) hurt '\ourd\bourd 'bourde' (but bourdeii)
goart (plur. goardet), poignart 'poignard'.
b)Fr. nd: M. Br. (E.) has blont 'blond', blondaff 'etre
blond'; bout, bount 'bonde'; brigantet 'brigands' (but cf. bri-
gandinou 'brigandines') ; diuergonl 'devergonde' ; hoppelant
'houppelande'; kalent 'calende', (but cf. Jtalander rcalen drier');
legent 'legende'; prebent 'prebende' (but prebander 'preben-
dier'); cf. M. Br. amanlifu 'amender'; font 'fond'; reverant
'reverend'; alamandes 'amandes', O . Fr. almande-s (Mod. Br.
alamantes, alamandes, Vann. almantes*); confuntaff'confondrQ-,
quintaff'Uuiuder*', lander 'landier' ; ront (Vann.) 'rond'; sukr-
cahtin (Tr.) csucre candi'.
2. In W. :
In many loanwords from E. final rd, nd appear in W. as rt,
nt.
a) E. nd. W. almant 'almond' (M. E. almond); dimwnt,
diemwnt, daimawnt 'diamond'; Edmwrit, Emwnt 'Edmund';
dromwnt 'dromond'; gerlant, gerlont, gerlawnl 'garland' (M.
E. ger (e)lande) ; grwnt 'ground' in L. G. C. p. 249; Hollant
'Holland' (a personal name in C. Coch MSS. p. 249 'Mis
Rhagfyr fu gur i ^ant | Aruthr hwyl yr aeth Holland}',
I . In this case Fr. had also a form in a.
Similarity in the Phonology of Wdsln and Breton 65
Inglont, Northwtnhyrlont, Got lout, Islont, Ysgollont, 'England,
Northumberland, Gothland, Iceland, Scotland'; laurnt, llawnt
'a lawn, lawnd'; mar slant 'merchant' (M. E. marchancT) ;
Rhismwnt 'Richmond'; swnt 'sand' (M. E. sonde), stont (dial.)
from E. stand.
b) E. rd.
W. lariat (? for lalart) 'mallard' ; laeart 'a bayard' in L.
G. C. p. 341 ; laslarl 'baselard'; has/art 'bastard'; bort (M.
E. horde) in lolo MSS. p. 325 'Un gost gwin a rhost yn
rhydd | Ywch dwyfbr/ chwi a Dafydd', p. 326. Llyfr teg radd
yr holl fort gron'; cort 'a cord, chord' in lolo Goch, Elis Wyn\
cwpwrt (also cwpwrdd) 'cupboard' in L. G. C. p. 95 'Dy
givpwrt dy gwrt. . .'); cwstart 'custard' (W. S. has kwstarcT) ;
Edwart 'Edward' ; vowart 'vaward, vanguard' in L. G. C.
p. 35 ; ffwlbart, ffwlhert M. E.folmarde; godart(ca goddard', (a
plur. form godardau in B. Cwsc); gwarl 'ward, guard' in D.
G 442; halhart ? 'halberd' in C. Coch MSS. p. 309; Hew-
part 'leopard' (Z). G. rhymes it with dart. W. S. has llewpard.
We have a curious form llewpartdiaid in Ystori yr Olew
Bendigaid p. 326, wich probably shows that the t was voiced
inside a word, cf. godardau in B. Cwsc by the side of the sing.
godarf) ; mwstart 'mustard' in Medd, Mydd, p. 23 ; rhywart
'reward' in L. G. C. p. 249; Rhisiart 'Richard' ; stiwart is the
N. W. dial, form of E. steward, having in pi. stiwardiaid ;
stondart 'standard' in L. G. C. p. 61; wdwart and wtiuart
'wood-ward' in L. G. C. p. 239.
Besides the above changes there was also a change of final
IdofE. to It in W. in some words, e. g. gilt in L. G. C. p.
117 cael gilt hefyd. meaning 'payment' (the word gild
occurs in E. with the meaning 'a payment' or 'tax') ; hwswolt
'household'in L. G. C. p. 460 (but on p. 195 hwswold occurs) ;
molt ? 'mould' M. E. molde,m L. G. C. p. 305 'Mai tir iarll a
molt teirllys'.
In some words E. final rd appears as rdd (and occasionally
rth) in W., e. g. biurdd M. E. borde, cwpwrdd 'cupboard', has-
iardd 'bastard', mwstardd and nnustarth in Medd. Mydd pp.
95, 159; ysbignardd 'spikenard' in Medd. Mydd. p. 202,
ystondarddh&rdd hirddu'. Final Id of E. has become W. lit in
PARRY-WILLIAMS. — These. J
66 Parry -Williams
some words e. g. cwcwallt 'cuckold' (M. E. cukewalde), mallt
Further cases of change and interchange of consonants in
W. and Br.
I. Initially.
30. — i) Initial M,B, V in W and Br.
In some native words there is an interchange of m- and b-
in W. and Br. words, e. g.
W. men and ben 'cart, waggon'; W. nioes Br. boa% ; W.
mwyaid and bwyaid\ O. W. maut, Mod. W. bawd (cf. mod-
fedd 'inch' mod-nuy 'ring'); W. meg in, Br. megin and begin
'bellows', W. math and bath:, W. magi and bag I (a snare' ; W.
maeddu and baeddu 'to soil'; Br. (Vann.) mailloc and bailloc
'chin' ; W. htnzodmun c maiden'.
In the lanwrords ofW. and Br. the interchange of initial m,
b, and z> is much more frequent. These occur mostly in words
borrowed from E. and Fr., with some examples, however, in
late borrowings from Latin.
A. In Br.
a) V > B.
M. Br. (E.) has torn and venin 'venin', bergier 'vergier',
Beronic 'Veronique', ber^ut and bur^ut from Lat. virtut-is,
bescont 'vicomte' (Le Gon. has beskouht), biwig 'visage', bitaill
'vitaille', bilen 'vilain', volonle^, uolante, 'volonte' (Mod. Br.
bolente^, Vann. volante and bolante), band 'venelle' (L. Ch.
(M. Br. Chart.) has also band) ; L. E. (#.) has beach 'voyage*
(O. Fr. veiage,veage) \ bandem 'vendange' (borrowed from Lat.
vindemia), biel cvielle', boot 'voute' (borrowed from Lat. volta
for volula 'arrondie').
The majority of borrowed words, however, retain the ini-
tial v.
b) M > B.
L.E.(H.} bent 'menthe'; Le Gon. bardel 'mardelle'; bus
and mus 'muids'.
c). V > M.
Vann. (Ch.) mendem 'vendange* (inis mendem 'septembre'),
Similarity in I be Phonology oj Welsh niul Breton 67
tnendemein 'vendange', Lat. vindemia, cf. bandem above a);
Mod. Br. moue^ fvoix', as in R. C.,8, p. 90 vn mom^ une
voix'.
B. In W. :
a) V > B.
berf ' verb ' from L. tyerbuw, berfaen and ferfaen 'vervain';
benmis and barnais (mod. \V. dial, varnis) c varnish ' M. E.
vernisch, vernysche (W. S. has also verneis) , bicar, bicer (and
micar) c vicar '; hi lain and mi lam from M. E. vilain, vilein ;
bitail ' victuals ' from M. E. viiaille\ bwltur and fwltur (in
Bible, Lev. II, 14 and Deut. 28, 7) ' a vulture ' ; bocal ' vocal,
vowel ' (the word bocal is used by W. S. in the introduction
to his Welsh-English Dictionary).
b) M > B.
balaen, balain, balen, belan and malaen ' Milan-steel or
-armour', early E. Mdayne; barlat, ?for balart ' mallard ';
basarn and masarn ' mazer-tree ' ; buwl mul ieuanc (Geiriadur
W. Llyn) ' mule ' ; burgyn ? E morkin ; barblis and marblis (in
N. W. dial.) 'marbles*.
Cf. W. bynafyd dial, for ytnanafu, possibly through an
intermediate form mynafyd; bydroi for ymdroi, through an
intermediate inydroi.
Cf. also W. ffwlbart and ffwlberl from E. foulmarde; W.
buddai (Br. /;/#(, Ir. muide) c a churn ', supposed to be from
Lat. modins.
c)V>M.
maniais ' vantage ' ; welved ' velvet ' ; mentro and mentrio
f venture ', meftfrro (adj.) ' venturous '; micar and Hear ' vi-
car', milain and bilain M. E. vilein (See above (a)); miswrn
( vizor ' ; mursen ? E. virgin ; mivilieu ( vigils ' in Llyfr
Ancr Llandewivrevi, from Lat. vigiliae.
d) B > M.
JF. 5. gives ;;/.^Md;- £ a banner' by the side of the commo-
ner W. forms baner ; mwngler c bungler ' occurs in the
works of Gruffyd ab leuan (viii) ' Nag aed mwngler i glera ' ;
the common form is bwngler.
Cf. N. W. dial, menthig, S. W. dial, mencid, myncidy for the
literary benthyg (for benffyg).
68 Parry-Williams
Note. — In N. W. dial, the word misi ' difficult to please*
has alternate forms fisi and bisi. The word megin has very
often the form fegin as the radical, due, no doubt, to its tre-
quent use with the definite article y fegin ' the bellows '.
31. — 2). The spirant ch becomes s in Br. in certain cases;
in W. as a general rule it becomes si, when it is followed by
a vowel other than i, the si having two pronunciations — sh
and si (the si pronunciation being confined more or less to
parts of N. W.). Before the vowel / the cb becomes a pure s-
sound in N. W., but generally sh- sound in S. W.
A. In Br. :
a) M. Br..sanell ' a gutter, canal ' is believed to be from O.
Fr. cbaigml (Mod. Fr. cbeneau\ and the Mod. Br. san appears
to be a shortened form of it. S^eL. E. (/f.) s. v.
Siminal ' cheminee ' in R. C., i, p. 408 ' Dibaot siminal a
voged | Anez ne ve tan en oaled ' (Rarement cheminee fume,
s'il n'y a feu dans 1'atre).
Soum ' rester ' is supposed to be from an early Fr. verb
cbomer (see R. C., 2, p. 217). Other forms are choum, chow, as
in R. C., 3, p. 215, and cbouinas ' est reste ' p. 216. Tr. has
sench ' changer'.
b) Fr. cb appears initially as c in Br. in the following cases,
which found their way to Br. through the medium of some
of the northern Fr. dials, that had c tor ch before a.
M. Br. carg ' charge ' (also Mod. Br. karg) ; Vann. (Ch.)
camel ( charnier ' (see also camel in A.f. C.L., p. 606); campr
chambre ' (in R. C., 10, p. 5 en campraou ' en chain bres ') ;
kaboun (Fr.) £ chapon '.
Cf. L. E. (H.y/rankisiou ' franchises '.
B. In W. :
a). The change in W. is very common in the loanwords from
E. Although E. had a dental in this sound, there are no traces
of it initially in the W. words. W. S. says that the E. ch in
his tune was pronounced tsi, yet the words he gives in his
dictionary do not show a dental at all. The ch of E. may
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 69
occur in native E. words or in the Romance words borrowed
into E. In both cases, however, si appears initially in W.
Exs. :
Sitb ' Cheap-side ' M. E. chepe, O. E. clap ; stale ' chalk ',
M. E. chalk, O. E. cealc; siurl ' churl ' M. E. churle, chorle,
O. E. ceorl ;
sialens ( challenge ' M. E. chalenge ; sianibr ' chamber ' M.
E. cha(ii)mbre; siamled M. E. chamelet ; siaradl E. charade ;
steer ' chequer' M. E. chekker; siawns ( chance' M. E. chaunct',
stars' charge ', siarsio ' to charge '; siartr ' charter' M. E.
chartre; siet (W . 5.) M. E. chete.
b) Before the vowel i W. has pure s :
sibol M. E. chibolle; sir ' cheer ' M. E. chere\ siwet (given
by W. SJ) M. E. chewet ; simnai (simddai) ( chimney ' M. E.
chvnneye; sir 'shire ' M. E. shire, shire; siryf, siri ' sheriff' M.
E. shirreve; silff l shelf ' M. E. scMfe, shelfe, O. E. scylfe.
Note. - - The initial / of E. also appears in W. as si, e. g.
siaced ' jacket '; Sierom 'Jerome'; Siac ' Jack ' in M. A.
p. 330 ; W. S. has siafling ' a iauelyn ' and siaggio ' jagge '.
32. — 3). Interchange of initial G and B in W. and Br.
a). The only example in Br. is the M. Br. bli^ien ' year',
which has variant forms gly^en and gluten. The corres-
ponding W. word is blwyddyn.
b) In W. the interchange of initial b and g is seen in a
few words. The Mod. W. bwystfil occurs in the plur. form
guystuiled ' in the Black Book. It is also found elsewhere with
g, as Dr. Davies in his Dictionary gives the forms gwestfil and
bestfil as variant forms of bwystfil. The word giach has an
alternate form biach, given by Dr. Davies. The W. word
bwyall ' axe ' is pronounced gwuallt in. parts of N. W. and
gwiall in parts of. S. W.
33. — 4). Interchange of initial D, Tand G, C in W. and
Br. :
i. In this case the form may have arisen from a confusion of gwylltjil
and kwystfiL
7° Parry- Williams
In Fed. § 333 the W. tlawd, thus (with N. W. pronuncia-
clawd, clws) are compared with Br. aglefe { ought ' (the im-
perfect indie. 3 pers. sing.) for dhfe (M. W. dylyu ' to owe')
and Br. gwentl ' pain ', Treg. war oenkle ' in the throes of
childbirth '.
With these may be compared the S. W. gweid = dweyd
(for dywedyd) and N. W. Gwalad for Dwalad (Cadwaladr\
derwinan for giureinen ' ring- worm '.
Note. -- In R. C.,i9,p. 323 the M. Br. forms golloenter,
gollcnder, guollonder (Mod. Br. goullohder) are compared with
the W. forms gollwng and dillwng, Cf. Vann, darloSkhienn
and garlostienn ' an ear- wig ', Treg. garloskenn, mentioned in
R. C., 3, p. 235.
34. —II. Medially and Finally.
i). We have seen above (§ 31) how initial Fr. ch was
expressed in Br. by s, and how initial ch (and/) of E. appea-
red in W. as si or s.
A similar change took place medially and finally (in Br. in
a few cases, in W. in most cases) in the case ofch, j and cere-
bral g.
A. In Br. :
1 . Fr. ch seems to have become s(i) in missi M . Br. mechif
' mechef according to R. C., 21, p. 142 \senessal(A.f. C. L.
p. 606) f senechal ' ; spills is from Fr. epluchure according
to a conjecture in L. E. (//.), but it possibly arose first from
the verbal from eplucher.
2. Fr. j appears as si in Br. resiouissel (A.f. C. L., p. 220)
from Fr. rljouir.
3. Fr. g(e appears as s in M. Br. sins c singe',
B. In W. :
i. E. ch appears medially in W. as tsi, si, (5) before
vowels, and as ts, (/)j before consonants, e. g.
ceisbwl ' catchpoll ' M. E. cachepol, fleitsier (W. S.) ' flet-
cher ' M. E. flecker ; haitsiet (W . 5.) < hatchet ' M. E. hachet ;
piser c pitcher ' M, E. picker ; heislan (W. 5.) a hetchel M. E.
Similar itv in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 71
hechelc ; marsiant c merchant '; scwtsiwn ' scutcheon ' M. E.
scochone'y trelnsiwr ' trencher ', setsiel (W . 5.) c a sechell ' ;
Rhisiart ' Richard '; Winsestyr (R. B.H., II, p. 388) c Win-
chester '.
2. E. medial / appears as s in one loanword in W., consurio
i to conjure'; W. S. has consurio ' coniure '. Consurio and
consirio occur in the works of GrufTydd ableuan (xi) ' Pe ron
ar frig pren ar frys | Gonsirio Gwen os erys ' and ' Ni ad fyth
i enaid fo Gan siarad i gonsurlo '.
3. Medials soft g appears in W. as s, si, ds, e. g. W.S. has
satten o brudsys ' saten of bruges ' i. e. Bruges ; corslet in L. G.
C., from E. gorget ; dwynsiiun in C. Coch MSS. p. 424, from
E. dungeon ; veinslans(W. 5.) f vengeance '; habrsiiun ' haber-
geon ' ; lardies (possibly for lardsies) in L. G. C., p. 370,
1 largess ' ; niausier (W . S.) ' manger 9;sersiaiU in L. G. C.,
p. 387 ' sergeant ' (W . S. has serdslant ' sergeaunt '); sinsir
' g^ger '.
4. Final ch(e and g(e of E. appear in W. as s, ts, (and ds
for g(e).
Exs : braens f branch'; broslo ' to broach ' (W.S. has
broitsio ' broche'); cleinslo cto clench' (W. S. has kleinsio pen
hoyl cclenche'); /m ' fresh ' M. E. freche-, baits (W.S.')
' hatch'; w/^^5 (^F. SJ) ' a match' M. E. mache and matche\
mars ' march, border ' in D. G. pp. 13, 195, M. E. march,
marche; mwstas ( moustache ' ; W. S. has oystreds ffedder
' oystreche fedder ' i. e. ostrich-feather; petrls and per Iris
' partridge ' M. E. pertriche; taeds (W. 5.) f a tache '; trelns
(W. 5.) ' trenche'; twyts (W. 5.) f touche ', also twytsio
( to touch ' ; ysians in L. G. C. p. 27, ' staunch ', M. E.
sta(ii)nche ; Sandwis L. G. C, p. 24 ' Sandwich '.
baeds (W. S.) c a badge' M. E. bage', caes and caets ' cage';
karias (W. S.) ' carriage '; colas ' college ' in L. G. C.
p. 354; loydslo (W . 5.) c lodge '; mantals ' vantage '; mort-
gaeds (W . 5.) c mortgage '; payds (W. 5.) ' page '; potes
c potage ' (W. S. has potaes) ; saes in Medd. Mydd. ' sage'
(W. S. has saetSy saeds) ; siars ' charge '; sgwrs ' scourge '.
7 2 Parry- Williams
35. — 2). W. and Br. V(F) and W between vowels and
in consonant-groups.
An early final w after a consonant in W. andBr. was itself
a consonant in the middle-period of both languages, as the
metres show. Even at the present day in the W. cyngbanedd
metres it is non-syllabic, and always counts as a consonant. In
modern times, however, in W. and Br. the tendency has been
to vocalise this consonant. In W. the vocalisation naturally
appears as an //- vowel (W. u>)} but very rarely o is heard. In
Br. the vocalisation tends to favour the o- vowel. The form
with o, however, can in M. Br. be non -syllabic. M. Br. has
maru, ludu, gam, me%u, hanu later niaro, garo, nie^o, hario,
(W. marWj lludw, garw, meddw, enw). M. Br. has forms in o
and Mod. Br. forms in v.
As is the case in modern W. metric, where the w is regar-
ded as a consonant (and it is still held to be the really correct
modern pronunciation by some), so in the Br. dial, of Vann.
the w preserves its consonantal quality. In this dial, it is really
an //- consonant, and is expressed in various ways in the dif-
ferent dictionaries.
The common change of u to o in Br. may have a parallel
in the modern N. W. pronunciation of such expressions as
yn enwr Tad, in which case 'n eno'r Tad, is distinctly heard.
Cf. M. W. chwero (ckwerw), and guero'm Gododdin (see § 21)
racco (later acw, S. W. oco, yco), hero Qxrw), helo (helw), taro
(tarw), ero (erw) 1.
For the total disappearance of this sound in final position
after consonants in both W. and Br. see §§ 73, 74.
The following are exs. of the interchange of ti and v (W. w
and /, Br. ou, o and v, jf ).
i. The lines where these occur are the following (Skene, II, p. 106,
Bk. of Aneiriii) :
Hero ciued guec guero
Gnissint gueuilion ar e Mo
Nit oed ar les bro bot ero
Ni cilias taro trin let un ero
Traus y achaus liuir delo
cf. heno (henw) in Black Book (Skene II, xxxv) :
Vgnach yw vyheno mob mydno.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 7}
a) u >> v .
1) In Br. (here the change is mainly the rule) :
M. Br. dive^ (W. diwedd), levene^(W. llewenydd, llaivenydd),
guiuffer (W. gwiwer), goeff (W. gwayw), naffn, naon (W.
tieuyti), uajjnec (W. newynog)9 tejffal, teual (W. tyiu^ll), too,
tevell(W . law, tawel, Mod. Br. tevel), goeffaff(W. giuywo).
Mod. Br. adbevet in L. Ch, (W. adfywio), leshanvet (W. lly-
senwi), liou, liv (W. ///w) but /iVa (W. llifo), glao (W.glaw)
but glayek (W.glawog), teo (W. /^t')but tevaat (W. tewhau)^
birvi (Vf.'befwt).
2) In. W. :
Most of the W. exs. of th is change are mostly from the
spoken language but some of them have found their way to
the literary language briw butbrifo ' to hurt \glaw plur. gla-
fogydd and adj. glafog, giuryw ' male ' plur. gw ryfod ; gorjedd,
gorfadd (gorwedd), cnafon (cenawon), giuyw but gwyfo (gwywo
' to fade, wither'), cafod (cawod), gloefi (gloewi), If an (leuan,
Iwari) ifanc (tenant), Eifionydd (cf. M. W. Eiwynydd mMab.
Math vab Mathonwy), hufans from the E. allowance, Iwfio from
E. allow, llifo ' to dye ' (from lliw ( colour ').
b) v >> u generally before /, n, r).
1. In Br. :
aon, aoun M. Br. oun (W. ofn), diaoul, diaul pi. diaoulou
(W. diafl, diaiuT), taulign ' to throw \taulet ( thrown \ditau-
las ' he threw ' in L. Ch. (W. taflii), taul ' table ' (cf. W.
taflen), gaor and gam (W. gafr), gaol (W. gaft), reor (W.
fhefr).M. Br. eintajj is in Mod. Br. intaoh (intahv, intav).
2. In W. :
awsen by the side of absen ' absence ', cawstin for cafswn
(from cad forcafeT), cowlaid forcoflaid, diawlfox diafl, tawlufor
taflu, niwl J by the side of nifwl ; M. W. ysgawn = ysgafn.
Cf. dial, cywod (cyfod), civarfod (cyfarfod), cywoeth (cyfoeth),
sgwarnog (ysgyfarnog), sgwennu (ysgrifenmi).
i . The form niwl, when compared with Ir. nel, is difficult to explain.
Ct. O. Fr. niule.
74 Parry-Williams
Cf. also the interchange of au(eu), aw (ew), ef(yf) in W.
keneu, cenaw, cenawon-, llysiau, llyssewyn ; edau, edafedd; cled-
dau, cleddyf, chddyfau (M. Br. cle^eff, eleven, pi. ck^effyou);
eisiau, essywed; deunydd, defnydd.
36. — 3) Interchange of N and R in W. and Br.
a) In Br.
An interchange of r and n occurs in Br. in the Mod. Br.
forms of the Article. In M. Br. the forms of the definite
article were an, ar ; in Mod . Br. the forms are an(n) before
vowels and d, t, n; ar before other consonants except /; al
before /. The indefinite article has the forms eu(n)t cur, eitl
under the same conditions. For the history of the Article in
Br. see R. C.y 2, pp. 204-216.
The Br. forms for the poss. pronoun of the i pers. plur.
are hon, hor l our '; for the personal pronoun of the i pers.
plur. also hon, hor ewe, us ' ; for the 3 pers. sing, accus.&m,
hen, her ' him, it '. M. Br. (E.) has knech ' hill ', crech for
Mod. Br. crech or kreach; knoenn ' nut ', kanoumn pi. kanou,
cnou, craouf(f), for Mod. Br. kraouenn plur. kraouh ; kneau
' fleece', later creon by Maunoir (W. cnu, cnaif); tnou( a
valley ', traou, tnou, trou for Mod. Br. traou (Treg.), in W.
tyno, earlier tonou in Lib. Land.
Mod. Br. has ken, far corresponding to the W. cyn ' as
(before adjs. and advs.). £A.nemert,nement, nemeit (W. namyri).
b) In W. :
The O. W. form of the article was ir, in M. W. yr, y, and
in Mod. W. yr, y. A trace of the older form with n is belie-
ved to occur in such expressions as ' y mae efe yn ddyn ' m
he is a man, and ' y mae efe yn fawr J = he is great. This,
however, is doubtful .
Dr. Davies in his Welsh-English Dictionary gives mororen
as a by-form of moronen, the sing, of moron ' carrots ', and
serrigl by the side of-sienigl ( contritus '.
In Campau Siarlymaen the form Corstinobyl l Constanti-
nople ' occurs, but in M. A. p. 328 the form is Constinobl.
Cf. the E. loanwords trdns ' drawers ', and trdn ' drawer';
also in N. W. cownt from E. ' court (-yard) '.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 75
37. -- 4). Interchange of ST and SK (SC) in W. and
Br.
The exs. generally adduced to illustrate this interchange
of Consonantal groups are W. gwisg ' garment ', gwisgo ' to
clothe ', iM. Br. guisquaff, Mod. Br. guiska, compared with
the Lat. vestis l ; and W. asgwrn ' bone ', M. Br. ascorn, Mod.
Br. askorn (Treg.), askourn (Leon) compared with the Greek
OffTCUV.
The W. words givasg and trysglen have also been compared
with the E. waist and throstle.
There appear to be other cases of thi's interchange of st and
sc in W.and Br.
A. In Br. :
The Vann. dial, of Sarzeau seems to change the guttural
into a dental in garlostienn, by the Side of darloskenn, darlos-
khien ' an ear-wig ' (Treg. garloskhenn, garloskenn). See R. C.
3, p. 235. Cf. monsk, woust, as in maw mousk ' quite dead '
mentioned in R. C. 4, p. 145.
Vann./^/e, foest L. E. (H.) ' soft, feeble '.
Stlabe^, sklabe^ ( dirt, mud' (R. C. 27, p. 73), Fr. eclabous-
ser.
B. In W. :
Prof. Rhys in R. C. 3, p. 87, cites two exs. of this inter-
change in M. W. diosdes (for commoner diosges) and}1 ueistawn :
" With diosc l to strip ' Mr. Stokes compares Breton di-uis-.
quaff. The Mabinogion have the form with the dental in
diosdes; also in Mabinogion... one reads y ueistawn for what
would new in Cardiganshire be yzuiscon, which means hay
trodden and pressed down in a long stack or the like, proba-
bly from the same origin as gwasgu ' to squeeze, to press '.
It is very probable, however, that ueistawn ought to be read
veiscawn in the MS.
The modern N. W. pronunciation of the literary ysgol
(Lat. scala) is ystol, thereby distinguishing it from ysgol
'school ' (Lat. scbold).
i. It is more probable that the W. and Br. forms have a different suf-
fix from the Latin.
76 Parry-Williams
38. — 5). Interchange of C'H, H between vowels, and
the occasional disappearance of the consonant between vowels
in W. and Br.
As a general rule where W. has ch, Br. also has c'h between
vowels. The irregular interchange of c'h (cti) and h, and the
loss of h may be seen from the following exs. :
Br. GL 0. inbues(g\. in bouello) is taken by Stokes to be
for in -f- hues, with hues corresponding to the W. buches ' ;
Br. achanoun, etc. ' from me ' (W. obonof), Br. buhe% (W.
buchedd ' life); Br. bihan (W. bychan ' small ') ; Br. croc hen
(W. croen £ skin); Br. tlechou (W. dehau, also dechau, deche,
detha, dethe in dials.); Br. ael(W. echel ' axle '). The M. Br.
(E.) ehanaff2 1 to rest ' zndehan ' rest ', Leon ehana are compa-
red with a W. word echain. M. Br. ehuede%, huede^ ' sky-lark '
is in Treg. echoueder (W. ehedydd. The W. form uchedydd
may possibly be for ecbedydd, changed to uchedydd under the
influence of the adj. uchel ' high '). The Leon words ec'kon
' large, spacious ', echonder (hechonder) ' spaciousness ',
Vann. ehander are said to correspond to W. eang (ehang),
eangder (ehangder} in R. C. 19, p. 330. Leon has also hechon
and hegon for ec'hon.W. allwedd is Br. alchoue^, with ch for
lenated g.
In the W. dials, the interchange occurs in some words. For
the literary dehau ' South, right J N. W. has detha ' skilful,
handy '; S. W. has dethe and deche. (With the interchange of
ch and th cf. W. dechreu with Br. de^raou and desraou). M. W.
ehofyn is in Mod. W. eofn, eon, but in parts of S. W. the forms
ehon and echon are found. The N. W. cyd, for cyhyd (M. Br.
quehit, Mod. Br. keit), is pronounced in parts of S. W. as
cychyd\ similarly N. W. cr*r, for creyr ' heron ' (Br. herc'hei^
for krec'heiz) is pronounced in S. W. as crychydd. The final r
of N. W. is not heard in composition, cry glas ' heron ' and
even crydd glas being the forms usually heard, cf. cyhwfan
and cychwfan ' to hover '.
The intervocalic h of W. and Br. frequently disappears
1. Cf. Br. triotiec'h ' eighteen ' for tri-c'houec'h.
2. See Fed. II, p. 295.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 77
especially in modern times. M. Br. ehoc, Mod. Br. eok (M. W.
ehazvg, Mod. W. eog)-, W. eofn for M. W. ehofyn; eang for
M. W. ebang-, W. cyd, Br. keit (see above); W. bet in Lib.
Land, for O. W. behet.
39. — 6) Medial ND in W. and Br.
At an early period in W. and Br. original nd had become
nn (see Fed. § 69) e. g. O. W. ennian* anvil '. Mod. W.
einion, M. Br. anneffn, Mod. Br. anneo, annev, O. Ir. indein ;
but in some cases the nd is preserved as in O. W. enderic,
Mod. W. enderig by the side of anner i heifer ' ; O. Br. endlim
(gl. fenus) W. ynnill, ennill, O. Ir. indile.
In loanwords from Lat. «df appears also as nn in most
cases, but here again there are variations. M. Br. has cantoell
(Mod. Br. cantol) W. cannwyll from Lat. candela ; Br. sklent
from Lat. scindula.
There appears also a difference of treatment when n and d
come together as the result of the syncope of a vowel. W.
has benditb from Lat. benedictio, but Br. has bennoe^. The W.
bendith may stand for an earlier *benddith cf. W. trindod, Br.
trindet, treindet (from Lat. irinitat-is) where the nd, having
arisen comparatively late, has remained unchanged.
40. -- i). Interchange of V (F) and DD (Z) in W. and
Br.
The W. word llythyr (llyther) l a letter ' corresponds to the
Br. li%er, which has the form liver in the Vann. dial, of Sar-
zeau. This interchange of v and ^ is also seen in the Br. words
kle^e, kleve (M. Br. cle%eff, cle%euff, eleven, W. cleddyf, cleddatf).
The Br. form kleve l may, however, have arisen from meta-
thesis of consonants (cf. pinvidik = W. pendefig and pended-
dig). So kleve would be for kleve(^) for kle%eff, cf. R. B. H. cle-
fydeu (with d — dd). Br. avank ' beaver or some aquatic ani-
mal ' corresponds to W.addanc,afanc.
In W., however, the interchange of/ and dd is quite com-
mon, especially in the dials., — addanc, afanc; Eiddionydd,
i . The form may also have been influenced by the Fr. glaive.
7 8 Parry-irillJams
Eifionydd (a district in Carnarvonshire) ; pendefig, pendeddig
1 prince, chief ' ; gwyrf, gwerydd ' virgin '.
In the W. spoken language and the various dials, the fol-
lowing occur :
byfigions, byddigions (boneddigion,vfith the plur. s- ending of
E.), cymandda (cymanfa ( a congregation, convention ') cam-
dda (camfa ' a stile '), eifil (elddil ' delicate, tender '), gweddus
(gwefus i lip '), nwyfau (nwyddau ' goods '), plwydd (phvyf
1 parish '), cf. y jannodd for y ddannodd i toothache '.
With this interchange of /and dd in W. may be compared
a parallel interchange of ff and tb, mostly in the spoken lan-
guage. One example from the literary language is benthyg
' loan ' for the older benffic (as in the Black Book). Others
are gwneiff and gwneilh (3 pers. sing. pres. indie, of gwneuthur
' to make ') daffod, dathod (for datod i to undo '), ceitb and
ceiff (caiff, 3 pers. sing. pres. indie, of cael, caffaef), deffol
(dethol ' select"), stwtkio and stwffio from E. stuff.
41. — 8) Interchange of final Z (DD) and D in W. and
Br.
A change (signalised by Loth, R. C. 17, p. 60) of a final
dental spirant to a voiced dental stop is found in certain dis-
tricts of Cornouaille. In Leon it is ^ for //;.
Exs. : bad l staff ' (Leon ba%), eid, eit ' eight ' (Leon ei%,
W. wyth)9 gard ' hedge ' (Leon. gar%, W. gatfb), etc.
In W. there are a few exs. of a similar change of final dd
to d :
Gormod for earlier gormodd (D. G. Gormodd rhodd, gwr
meJdw a'i rhoes), Maesyfed ' Radnor ' is supposed to be for
Maes-Hyfaidd (cf. Hefeydd of the MabJ), ymachlud ' sunset '
for ymachludd (Lat. occltldo). In the S. W. dial allwed for all-
wedd, cynted for cyntedd ; in the N. W. dial, diffod for diffodd ;
cf. 'spydn for dishyspyddu i exhaust '.
42. — 9) Interchange of NG, N, and the occasional disap-
pearance of the consonant in W. and Br.
For Lat. spongus Br. has three forms spoueng (and spouenk^
spouen, spoue, W.yspumg', corresponding to W. mumg,Ir.
mong, Br. has moueng (and mouehk), mouen, moiii) O. Br.
ity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 79
mogou, plur.). M. Br. has golloenter, gollonder, goullonder (Mod.
Br. goullonder) and dilloenter, corresponding to W. gollwng,
dillwng. For the above see R. C. 19, p. 323, cf. M. Br. toeaff
(W. tyngu).
The intervocalic ng of Latin was lost in Br. loanwords
like M. Br. ael (Mod. Br. eal, W. angel) Lat. angelus ; aviel
(W. ejengyf) Lat. evangelism, nouenn, L. itnguentnm. See Fed.
§ 138, 4, p. 224.
From among the Br. loanwords from Fr. we may note the
following exs. of changes :
Ion Fr. long, in R. C. 26, p. 118, M. Br. (E.) coinn and
coingy ? Fr. coin. M. Br. (E.) shows ng for the Fr. gn in the
following :
Bourgoing (Bourgoign, Bourgoiiinn) ' Bourgogne ' ; agoing
' cigogne ', Spaing l Espagne ' ; cf. also roingnenn ' rogne '.
In W., as in Br., there is an interchange of ng and n, but
W. has also a third form w. The following are exs. :
llawethair (llyffethair, Ir. langfitej-) from E. long-fetter ; Uewa
by the site of llyncu1 and Uyngyren (Ir. longim ' I eat'),
pylhewnos, penewnos (fylhefnos) for pymlheng-nos ; tafod (for
tawod) M. Br. teaut> O. Ir. tenge; ewin, Br. ivin, O. Ir. /w^w,
Lat. unguis. Lib. Land, \\zsgullengin for the Mod. W.gorlle-
win. See Fed. § 61,4, p. 107.
In the colloquial language of N. W. the following forms
are heard :
denid (or denig) for diengyd from dianc t to escape '; danos
for dangos ' to show '; cnebrwn for cynhebrwng f funeral'; gos-
twn for gostwng ' to lower ' ; gwllwn and gollwn (gyllwri) tor
gollwng t to let loose '.
In S. W. : cyjjreding for cyffredin ' common ' ; pring for
prin l rare '; shudding for sbuddin ' the heart of a tree ', i/tfw-
vylling is found for Llanfyllin (a town in Montgomeryshire)
in Cyw. Lien Cym. [II] (An act for the propagation of the
Gospel in Wales, 1649) p. 18 « att Llanvylling the 14th
May... ».
In the W. loanwords from E. the following may be noted :
i. The identity of the base-forms underlying Uewa and llyncu is, howe-
ver, doubtful. Cf. Ir. longim and slued m.
8o Parry-If'1liiatns
n g ^> n : dwbin (dwbing) ' cement ', as in c diubin ffwrn ',
E. dubbing, daubing (dubbin) ; W ' . S. has dwbing f dawbinge ' ;
fferin' (plur. fferins) E. fairing ; hvslin in M. A. p. 42% ? from
E busting ' an assembly ' ; offrwm ' offering, sacrifice ' may
be for offrwn from O. E. or early M. E.ofrung ( an offering';
pwdin E. pudding ;
n >> ng : bing ' the forestall in a cow-house' E. bin ; bowling
llong ' bowleyne ' (W . 5.), Mod. E. bowline (but E. itself
had forms bowling, bollinge up to the I9th. c.); coffing (S.
W.) E. coffin ; Catring (S. W.) ' Catherine ' ; dwsing ' dozen '
M. E. doss in, do^yne ; fflwring, ffloring i florin ' (but in i^th c.
there was an E. form floring)', resing ' reysyn ' (W . 5.); sia-
fling ( iauelyn ' (W . 5.) ; ring for yr ing ( the inn ' ; La ting
is often heard for Latin (cf. Llading in Gr. Roberts, Welsh
Grammar, R. C. reprint p. [165]).
43. -- 10) Interchange of Land R in W. and Br.
In many cases the change is due to dissimilation.
A. In Br. :
a) r > / :
M. Br. (E.) has armel ' armoire '; brevial (breuier) l bre-
viaire '; cornel ( corniere ' ; guelelouen (guereloiien) ' 1'etoile du
matin '; dromeder, Vann. domedal, dremedal l dromadaire ' ;
da%rou, da^lou (Mod. Br. daelon, V. dareii), grawel ' gram-
maire ' ; Kathelin Catharine ; priol (priori) ( prieur ' ; scritol
(scruitoer, scruytouer} ' ecritoire ' ; talay (tar ay, W. taradr)
1 tariere '.
Mod. Br. has beler (W. berwr, Ir. biror, bilor) ', alar (arar,
W. aradr)\ talar (tarar, for M. Br. lala%r, fara%r) ; kontrol
(M. Br. conlrell, O. Br. control-iaht , W. cythraul, cythrawl,
from L. contrarius), cf. O. Fr. contralier ; abalamour^— a pala-
mour from Fr. paramour) ; banniel (M. Br. banier, banyer)
c banniere ' ; musul (M. Br. rnusur from Lat. mensura), fleria I
(from Lat. fragrare, or possibly from Fr. flairer). Vann. (Ch.)
has ailetleen ' airette ' ; barriel ' barriere ' ; poulpri ' pourpri ' ;
i. Cf. however, O. Br. (Br. Gl.^fleriot, gl. quae redolet.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 81
Irtd, tret (W. tlawd)\ bas-vann. moual (Leon mouar W.
mwyar)\ cf. L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart.) Argoestl and Algoestl,
later Aloestre, at the present day Aloustre.
The following exs. are taken from texts in R. C. : — R. C.
3, p. 200 arru'rbaniel (void la banniere); ^. C. 8, p. ^66dibi-
lil (sans peril); ^. C. 4, p. 103 : Rale gad du (Rare est lievre
noir).
b)/>r:
M. Br. (E.) ainbarfaret ' tout effare ' (cf. W. ymbalfalu) ;
derchell ' tenir ' (by the side of imperat. dal ' tiens ', W. dal,
dal a) ; ami, ami I (W. 0ra//, Ir. alaile, araile) ; guerttell (Mod.
Br. gervel, cf. M. Br. gain W.'galw) ; few*// ' Jeter '(W. taflu,
tawlu, Mod. Br. teiireT).
Vann. (Ch.) has brounec, Leon, blonec, W. ^/ow^ c lard ';
L. £. (//•) ^A" from Fr. ^//^ ; R. C. 3, p. 60 arm armanach
(un almanach); bnrntel L. E. (/:/.) £ blutoir ' from O. Fr. £/«-
^/; ^. C. 21, p. 138 0/0#r Fr. en foul e (see § 69, a)).
B. In W. :
a) r > / :
ffleirio (O. W. flair-inaur) from Lat. fragrare (cf. Br. fleria,
above); blytheirio for bretheirio (W . 5.), in Mod. W. often
without the r or /, bytheirio; cythraul and cythrawl from Lat.
contrarius (cf. M. Br. contrell) ; Chwefrol and Chwefror from
Lat. Februarius'y M. W. glyssyn by the side of gryssyn, Mod.
W. gresyn ; mestil, in /^/// MW, /«w/ //^w c one by one, gra-
dually ', formesur ' measure' from Lat. mensura.
The r of E. appears as / in W. in the loanwords — tonitf/
c corner ' D. G. p. 193 Cornel ddiddos yw Rhosyr; dwsmel
£ dulcimer ' in L. G. C., Goronwy Owen and in Mod. W.
The form dwsnier is given by W. S. for the ea.ly N. E.
forms doudmer, doussenier, dowcemer. In N. W. dial, dressalfor
E. dresser, rasal and rasel for E. ra%pr, sylfuar for E. surveyor.
b) / > r :
ffrewyll ' a scourge ' from Lat. ftagellum ; //^/r^/7 (Br. /wn^)
is supposed to be for lleflith and cognate with Ir. lemlacht,
lemnacht.
PARRY -WILLIAMS. — These. 6
82
44. -- n). Change of final Af to M in loanwords in W.
and Br.
There arc numerous exs. of this change in the Br. loan-
words from Fr. and in the W. loanwords from E.
a) In Br.
M. Br. (E.) has Alibomm Aliboron * docteur imbecile ' ;
tilnni ' alun ', ulnn glace ' alun de glace '; nrem ' ' airain
(Mod. Br. (Iran, <IHH, Vann. niniim, air hi) (]aym Cain (rhy-
ming with prim) \patrom (Mod. Br. palronm^atrom) 'patron1;
rt'in'iH l venin ' (the Mod. Br. is binim as in A'. C. 2, p. 242 :
hag ho linim ' et leur venin ', but according to /.. /:'. (7/.)s.
v., it stands for an O. l;r. *venhn whence the adj. •iv;///;/<i//.v).
M. Br. has Hum 2 plur. Ihunnhut, as in M. />/. //., and may
be from IT. lien. Le (jon. has g-witrcmm ' garenne '.
In some Br. words there appears to he an opposite change
of ni to //, in such forms as M. Br. (E.) cln, din (supposed to
he from Lat. .\'nnins\ the change here may however he due
to the other M. Br. word sins from IT. .v/'/^v) ; bnui, brume
' brume \ Cf. Vann. hntnm ' tobacco ' but bnlnnein ' to
smoke ' ; M. Br. (li.), Iribnn and Iribum ( tribut ' ; Treg. blim
and A//// k lively, quick ' (Le Gon. has bhm or /'///;, \ if,
b) In W. :
In W. there are some exs. of the change even in native
words, In Metld. MvtA/., p. 195, we get 4 ellia'r pen yn
Ian ag <7/ym ' where cll\in stands lor the more common <Y/v//,
C). Br. itlliii, M. Br. iinlcnn. The change may have been due
to the intluence of llym ' sharp -,
In N. \\'. g\cuihim or gwialem may be heard for gwittkn
k rod, twig '. The Gwentian form for morwyn is morwni ' a
maid ',
In loanwords from E. the change is more frequent, e. g.
boiunn, btvtwm, l button \ in D. G. p. 57 botymuui (plur.)
wn in (AiDipan CbtrlynMent p. 50, also in the Mod.
1. In ihc case ot ,/;r/;/ and //iiw tlic w may be from the earlier IT.
forms in -HI.
2. Br. Ham mav, however, be from the Provencal form in -/>/.
in Ibc Pha '• diid /V
(iwcntian dial.) ; COlwm ' cotton ' ; /<//;//// ' kitten ' in /
p. 2)~ B^-1 Idlwm didr\\ m dracd, M. l:. /«//(>////; />//<//// the
Powysian form of E. engine, Yenedotian ////</// ; mom/w/wtoand
mvntwiio 4 maintain ', ///v;/////;/;\v " nuintaincr in / . i
p. 2:. MynlinnkiT ienivn Tomas, and ( \ ( ',\ •'• A/.S\V. p. i };,
nuh'iitiitiiiif, M. E. nuiiutcuc, imi\ut\ne ; ///;c'//\v/// k natron ' in
M\\Lf. p. 225 , possibly for nu//newi, ;
ft, X. \\'. tonn tor pastumy basto . I . . ,v/(//'. \. has
*, //'. Llvn f\ist\,'ii, /). (/'. p. 12^ l.la\vcnat" hiviniol.il"
bryd V\v'r htstviiKir host an\vvd); /'<//;;,'/// k a pattern \//'.
,S\ ptitrn'ui k a patcrnc ') M. M. /w/nv/, pati^ini ; rbcKcin " rea-
son ' (in the works of CinillydJ ah Icuan viii ' O ddaw o
rc<\i'i)i nc ddati I 1 ^warvod ar vcrsati ', with a variant
in another MS.) M. H. rcsnny n'Si*nn}\ .; .//// ' satlron
(//'. 4V. has >(///'/;,/;/, and Datydd ah l-dnnviul ' \,///"; ;,'/;/ ar
lysiau c tiros \ hut in .\/<\A/. M \\JiL \\ 2^ tchyc i W ( \1
1{. saffroun, $affrun\ slah'cin k stallion ' in N. \\'. dial, tor the
literary \sliiki'\u (but v\/<//;cv// may he an ineoneet form tor
ystalwn trom M. E. Stallone, ci. giil\v\n trom li. Dillon, and
.,'v;/ t'rom M. K. sviion).
Note. l{\en in M. 1;.. the final ;/ in Konianee \voi\lsw.is
otten changed to ///, and has suvived up to the present da\ in
such words asr<f//.sv///, nunl(>ni.
An ex. ot" the op|H>site change of/;/ to // may possibly have
taken place in Dnnut l Durham ' in /.. (/. C. p ;
A had aur es^i^b /)///•</;/
Yn ei lys vn nhal y Ian.
45. -- 12). A development ofJW>and /x'/'m \V. and Br.
An earl\ original /</ appears in M. Ri. as /;, but as the M.
Br. ; represents ./ and //.', the exact pronunciation cannot be
ascertained. It has been sui^estcd (/\. ('. 7, p. 155) that as
the Br. dials, of TIVL;. and Yann. always treat the ; lollowin*;
a liquid as a hard, not a .soft, consonant, even in M. Br. the ;
ma\ have stood for the //' .sound, e. i^. words like Tre^. ///
\'ann. ///•/.»; 'V\\-£. c'hw-in, \'ann. /;<»/// hciu, M. Br. /// x an
/;//<•/-;///, with ; rcpreseniini; //» and not d.
If this be really the case, it may be compared with a simi-
,
84 Parry -Williams
lar change in W. of dd to th after r, e. g. hwrth and hzvrthio
in the colloquial language for bwdd, byrddio. Cf . cbwertbin t to
laugh ' but cbwarddaf ' I laugh ' cbwardd ' laughs ', O. W.
guardam ; JF. 5. has ftwrth for jjwrdd.
This interchange of raW and r/Hs noticeable even to a grea-
ter extent in the W. loanwords from E. The final rt and rd
of E. words occasionally take the forms rth and rdd in the
W. representatives, e. g. bwrdd ' board, table ' O. E. bord,
M. E. lord, horde; bastardd in lolo MSS. p. 315, William y
Bastardd, R. B. H. II, p. 309 Henri vab G6ilim bastard (d for
dd) cwpwrdd ' cupboard ', ysbignardd l spikenard ' in Medd.
Mydd. p. 201 ; ystondardd ' standard ' m lolo Goch p. 108, Ag
ystondardd hardd hirddu; Dr. Davies has comffordd ' comfort';
cymftyrddus l comfortable ', but W. S. has kwnffwrtb ' con-
forte ', kwnffwrddio ' to counforte '; mwstardd ' mustard ' in
Medd. Mydd. p. 95, but on p. 159 ' ceiniagwerth o fwstarlh9 -,
Nordd1 ' North ' in D. G. p. 22, Gwraig rhyw benaig Robin
Nordd, lolo Goch p. 213 O'r Nordd yn yr Iwerddon; Cym.
Lien Cymr. [IV] p. 13, Ymeth wreigen dos i ffordd | Naill
ai i'r Nordd ai i'r Dwyrain.
With the above may be compared such forms as eddyw,
ethyw; arfaelh, arfeddyd; perffailh, perffeiddio ; ffrith, ffridd.
46. -- 13). The development of TL, TN and TR between
vowels in W. and Br.
Whatever may have been the development of these conso-
nantals groups at an earlier period, they are represented in
M. Br. by the groups ^/, ^r, ^ti. In their further development
up to the modern stage of Br., they completely lost the ^
before the / and r, with a kind of compensatory diphthongi-
zation of the foregoing vowel in some cases, e. g. O. Br. mo-
trep (gl. rnatertere), M. Br. moyeb, Mod. Br. 'moereb, (W.
modryb); M. Br. iara^r, Mod. Br. tarar (O. W. tarater, Mod.
W. taradr), O. Br. dadlou (gl. andronas), M. Br. da%l, Mod.
Br. dad, (O. Br. has also datolaham gl. lego, cf. O. W.. datl,
Mod. W. dadf)-, M. Br. hoatf, Mod. Br. hoal (W. hoed!),
I . Cf. the Norse nordr.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Bretai 85
M. Br. alayi (for ana^T) Mod. Br. Man (W. anadl); M. Br.
balayi (for bana^T) Mod. Br. balan, banal (W. bauadl}, M. Br.
/6>~;/, Mod. Br. /om (W. llwdn).
•Whether the development in W. took the same direction
as in Br. is not certain. But there are facts which lead to the
supposition that in W. also the / eventually became dd (cT) in
such positions. In the Black Book, where t is orthographical
for d, we find kenetyl for Mod. W. cenedl. So it is not impos-
sible that the d forms of Mod. W. were earlier £? (cf. bodlon
for boddlon) .
This is actually the case at the present day in the dial, ol
S. W. where forms like chweddyl, gwyddyn, gwaddan or gwad-
dyn are common for chwedl, gwydn, gwadn (N. W. chadal,
giueudyn, gwadan). In some of the poets (possibly of S. W.)
the forms with d occur, with a swarabhakti_y. Cf. W. haed-
del M. Br. hae~L
The further loss of the % before the final liquid, which took
place in the development of M. Br. to Mod. Br. can also be
exemplified from Mod. dial. W., e. g.
In S. W. anal (for anaddl or anadl\ cf. Br. halan, banal;
in N. W. dalan (possibly for danal from danadV) in dalan poe-
thion 'nettles'. In S. W. (and also to a certain extent in N.
W.) the forms boddlon 'satisfied', boddloni 'to satisfy', ffyddlon
'faithful', ffyddlondeb are pronounced bolon, boloni, ffylon, ffy-
Jondeb. M. W. has also bodlon for boddlon.
The W. ordinary literary forms with d have, hovewer,
their counterpart in the Br. development also. Prof. Loth
(R. C., 1 6, p. 205) refers to the preservation of dr (from ear-
lier tr) in the Br. dial, ol Ouessant (Leon), where the form
moedreb is found for the common M. Br. form moereb, M. Br.
mo^reb, O. Br. molrep, W. modryb. He also compares ar edred
fla cimitiere' for ar vedred, elsewhere ar verd, with W. bed-
drod, which, according to him, is for bed-rod owing to the
influence of bedd 'grave'.
47. -- 14). There seem to be one or two exs. in W. and
Br. of a dental becoming a sibilant before a labial, e.g.
M. Br. H. daspren cto redeem' (Ir. taithchricc} for do-at-pren
8 6 Parry- Williams
according to Mr. Stokes. In W. the form dywespwyd I is
found for the commoner form dywedwyd fit was said', dywes-
pwyd being for dywed- or dywet-pwyd, cf. M. W. clywyspiuyd
(from dywed).
48. - 15). The appearance in M. Br. of the two particles
e%, ent, which are considered to be identical, has led to the
supposition (see R. C., 18, p. 310) that even in Br., as in
W., nt before certain consonants became th (Br. ^). Regularly
Br. has nt, e. g. W. ewythr, Br. eontr. See further R. C., 9,
P. 382.
W. itself seems to have two forms in the word cynrhonyn
by the side of cynthron, Br. controunenn cf. Penrhyn (a place-
name), which in the colloquial language has developed an
epenthetic consonant d or t (as in Hendri for Henry), becom-
ing Pendryn or Pentryn, this developing further to Penthryn.
i . The form dywespwyd may, hovewer contain an old participle *dywes
cf. deth-pwyd, daeth-pwyd .
ADDITION OF CONSONANTS IN W. AND BR.
Prothesis — E pen thesis — E pi thesis.
I. Prothesis.
49. — a) Prothetic g :
i). Owing to the shifting of the consonantal element in a
diphthong, such as uy ^> ny, a further change has arisen in
W. and Br. when the initial vocalic u of a diphthong became
thus a consonantal //, it followed naturally that this should
have initially a g before it in the radical form, as an early u
demanded in Brythonrc a g before it initially. In some of the
older forms it is found medially also, e.g. O. Br. dorguid (W.
derwydd), O. W. leguenid (Mod. W. llawenydcfy, enguis (cf.
Mod. W. enwt).
This demand for a g before initial u has been extended in
W. and Br. to words borrowed into these languages (apart
from the Lat. loanwords, where it is the rule for u- to become
gu-). In W. the g is added to the initial w of E. words, in
Br. to the v of Fr. words.
Exs. :
W. wybren > \iybren >> gwybren, wylo >> *yylo >> gwylo,
wyneb ^> *uymb ^> gwyneb.
Among the E. loanwords in W. the following occur, gwdr
E. ware (£F/5.); gwald, gwalt E. welt (W. 5.); gwantan
E. wanton ; gwarant E. warrant ; gwassael E. wassail (as in
W. Llyn, LIX, 86 gwassel dan gesail deunant); giuedrod
(plur.), gweddrod, E. wether; gwindas E. wyndace (W. 5.);
gwiced E. wicket ; gwastioE. ivaste; gwirs E. wires; gwindio
E. wind\ GwindsorE. Windsor (I. Goch, p. 113. Aur Gwnsall
eryr Gwinsor).
88 Parry-Williams
Br. gwela, M . Br. goelaff 'to weep' (cf. W . wylo, gwylo)
as in R. C., 8, p. 966 gouelo tenn (des larmes ameres) ; goa-
bren, gouabren 'cloud, sky' (cf. W. wybren, gwybren'), as in
R. C., 10, p. 275 En gouabren un steren (dans le ciel une
etoile), R. C., 3, p. 80 A beb goabren, peb gaouad (a chaque
nuage, une ondee), R. C., 12, p. 169 bed en couabren (jus-
qu'au ciel); god Fr. voile in R. C., 8, p. 248 didan god (a
la voile), gwagen 'wave' Fr. vague.
2). W. and Br. have also added a g to initial vowels. Like
many other initial changes in W. and Br., this is due to the
influence of initial 'mutation', because in certain cases the g,
when it is organic, falls off in the so-called 'middle' muta-
tion. In W. it falls off regularly, in Br. only in the initial
group gw-, but the cb (or /;) arising from g in the 'middle'
mutation occasionally disappears altogether. See Ernault's.
Petite Grammaire Bretonne, p. 6.
The addition of g in such cases is much more common in
W. than in Br.
Br. exs. are gober 'to make' for ober ; gildeau (for which see
JR. C., 25, p. 67); Vann. girin 'plums' for irin (W. eiriri),
and givin 'nails' for ivin (W. ewin and gewin).
W. exs. are gordd 'sledge-hammer' (O. W. ord,Ir. ord);
gallt for allt ; gewin for ewin 'nail, finger-nail' (probably
through confusion with giewyn for gieuyn from giau 'si-
news').
In the E. loan-words gonest for onest E. honest; gornest
'struggle' E. ornest, O. E. earnest '9 gorffreis , gorffoys in M. W.
from M. E. orfreys, orfreis; gwrlys and wrlys from E. orles;
gordro from E. order.
In the W. dials it is carried even further, as e. g. in N. W.
garddwrn 'wrist' for arddwrn, gaddo 'promise' ior addaw, etc.,
and in S. W. genaid 'soul' for enaid, goer 'cold' for oer etc.
3). In a few cases in W. and Br. g1 is added to an initial
consonantal i.
In W. giar plur. gieir dial, for iar, gildio from E. yield.
In Br. this takes place mainly in the dial, of Vann. e. g.
I , This % may be partly a development of the j,.
Similarity in the Phonology of U'eLsb and Breton 89
guiolh plur. guiolhi (Leon iourc'h, W. iwrch 'a roebuck') ; also
in some parts of Vann. giein for iein ccold', gir for yir Chens'
(See R. C., 3, p. 47) ; cf. Br. geo by the side ofieo 'yoke', W.
ICLU\ M. Br. Guenveur, Mod. Br. Genveur, W. lonawr, Lat.
Januan'ns.
4) Occasionally a g is added to an initial liquid or nasal
in W. and Br. e. g.
Br. gla^ard, Vann. glasart, presumably from Fr. le^ard,
changed under the influence of gla\ 'green, blue' ; the plur.
glasardet occurs in R. C., 9, p. 149.
In W. gnaws for naws seems to be the only case, Br. neu%',
cf. Br. penao^ £how ?' The W. gnaivs may owe its form to the
Ir. gnds,d. Ir. nos from W. naws?
50. -- b). Prothetic s.
In a few cases there appears a parasitic s before initial con-
sonants in W. and Br., mainly in the loanwords from E. and
Fr. In Br. this 5, with one exception, is added to initial cl
Exs. in Br.
M. Br. sclear (also sclaer, scler) fromFr. clair (cf. however,
the early Fr. form e(s)clairer ; M. Br. sclaf, Mod. Br. sklas
from Fr. glace, sclaceu (L. Ch.) 'classes'; Br. skleur is accord-
ing to L. E. (//.) from Lat. cl&rus', skloka cto cluck' has been
compared with the W. clwcian, clocian of the same meaning ;
the W. forms are almost certainly borrowed from E. ; stripen
from Fr. tripe.
Among the native Br. words the following may be exs. :
M. Br. scle%renn £a scraper, rake' by the side of cle%renn,
Vann. sclereenn, cf. W. cledren; bas-vann. sclom, Vann. cloni,
M. Br. coulm.
In W. the following may be exs. in the W. dial. : sloes fa
lash, stripe' possibly from E. lash or lace ; sgwlhio for gwthio
cto shove, push'; scudyll or scidill coch for cudyll coch ca kite,
kestrel' ; sgil as in ar sgil ^behind' may be for oil.
,51. — c). In the W. word iach by the side of ach cgenea-
90 Parry-Williams
logy, lineage' as given by Dr. Davies in his Die. we seem to
have an ex. of prothetic i. This form occurs in many W.
mss.
Cf. epenthetic { in W. and Br. § 55, 4).
52. -- II. Epenthesis.
i. Epenthetic nasal.
a). The insertion of a nasal in words (especially loanwords)
is a wide-spread custom in Br. This nasalization is not with-
out its counterpart in W. also. In the dial, of N. W. one
hears :
bwnda for hwde ' take thou' ; neindio and nindio for neidio
'jump'; mwyndro for muydro 'moider, confuse'; yndrach and
ydrach for edrych 'see' ; yndu, yndi, yndan, yndyn for ydwyf,
ydyw, yavm, ydynt 'I am, he is, we are, they are' from bod 'to
be'; cf. bymdroi and bydroi for *mydroi trom ymdroi 'loiter' ;
munclis for bwclis ,? from E. buckles M. E. bodes; cf. also O.
W. disuncgnetic (gl. exanclata) by the side of Mod. W. sugno
'to suck'.
In the W. loanwords from E. the following words have
m before a labial :
bwnbwl E. bubble. ; tampr E. taper in D. G., p. 236. A
thampr o ddewis mis Mai | A thrwmpls y gerdd a' i thrimplai ;
(tapr, tapyr are commoner forms as in R. B. H., II, p. 392;
tapreu kwyr, and Campan Charlymaen, p. 48, tapyr cwyr);
trimplai in D. G. (see above) is supposed to be from E. thrip-
ples for O. E. firipel-, triumph in D. G. (see above) may be
from E. thropple 'wind-pipe', O. E. firotbolla 'wind-pipe'.
In Br. there are many exs., with n before dentals and m
before labials :
M. Br. (E.) amgroesy angroas 'fruits de 1'eglantier' (W.
egroes)\ canfard 'cafard'; Hamblit in de% yaou H. (W. dyddlau
Cablyd, Ir. caplat, Lat. capitilaviuni); mintr 'mitre', tripal and
trimpal 'triper'; in L. Ch. mintin 'matin' from Lat. maiutina
(W. meityn)\ ambondans 'abundance'; hembrouc (W. hebrwng 'to
accompany'); hemb by the side of heb (W. heb 'without, past');
in L. E. (//.), anipart M. Br. apert from O. Fr. apert\ bento-
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 91
nik 'betoine', Lat. betonica ; behdel for bedel (cf. W. both and
bothell); Ir. mint cmite'; Vann. man goer , O . Br . macoer (W .
magwyr) ; Nandeleg f christmas '(W. Nadolig)', imbreil 'April',
(Leon ebrel, W. E brill)-, cf. R. C., 8, p. 250 ompinion, but
p. 25 4 opinion; R. C., 8, p. 474 an mintr 'la mitre'; 7?. C.,
:9> P- 335 racris impocrisi Fr. hypocrisie; R. C., n, p. 340
mgtf/, Fr. egal, is only an apparent example, being like ano-
ther Br. form ingal from Mid. Fr. ingal.
b). Epenthetic n before sibilants.
A peculiar feature of Br. is that it has an epenthetic nasal
very frequently before a sibilant sound, especially in loan-
words from Fr. The exact nature of the sibilant, in connection
with which this takes place, is a moot point. In L. Ch.,
p. 241 we are taught that Br. finals or c% had the sound ot
s, the same sound as c before slender vowels. But M. Ernault
in R. C., n, pp. 251 sqq. contends that this is incorrect. He
proposes to differentiate between s and a soft c. The latter,
he says, originates mainly, of course, from Fr., but he gives
exs. of the same in native Br. wrords, with two possible ori-
gins (i) from %-{- s, (2) from final £. He regards the soft c-
sound as being nearer ch than s.
The n arose in Br. before the c (followed by / or e), before
ss, sc, s (final), and before ts (or ds), ch(e, and f.
The introduction of a nasal under similar circumstances is
not unknown in some parts of Wales, in loanwords from
E.
The exs. in Br. are :
bens (also bes) 'vesce' L. E. (//.)> bus and mils 'muids'
L. E. (#.) ; M. Br. blecc fwound', blessa cto wound' are
found as blenc%, ble$%a in dial, of Cap Sizun, from O. Fr. ble-
cier (see R. C., 26, p. 331); charms from Fr. jarosse (as in
R. C., p. 200 eur charron^ cun carrosse', p. 202 heg&rron%
'son carrosse'); krainchat 'cracher' Ir. ; Vann. dins for dis,
M. Br. dice from O. Fr. de^ L. E- (//.) ; didronce in R. C.,
7, p. 328 Unn toque didronce annehon *un chapeau non
retrousse par dessus' ; lohch cloche, poisson de mer' Ir. ; man-
souner and masouner ^macon' Le Gon.; manchoner fmachoire'
9 2 Parry- Williams
in R. C., n, p. 300; grons chardi' from Lat. grossus L. E.
(//.); (cf. A.f. C. L., p. 606 gronf) ; pus, R. C., 15, p. 266 en
puns an Iferniou cdans les puits des Enfers', Vann. puna,
plur. punceu from Fr. putts-, pens 'fesse' L. £". (H.); pinsin
from O. Fr. piscine L. E. (HJ); ponsin Fr. poussin L. E. (//.);
/XM'JW fvol', poinsa evoler', poinser 'voleur' all from Fr. argot
poisser ; frowj from Fr. trousse L. E. (#.)> M. ^r. wr <v^s
pour monter', Vann. w«j. Cf. ^rows by the side of ^rows (see
L. £. (H.) s. v.).
This nasalization arises in W. under similar conditions,
viz. before soft g (as in E. -age), final s, und jft (M. E. ch,
scK). The soft g and ^ may have had at the time of borrowing
a dental element in them, as they certainly had later in the
history of E., and have in mod. E., Ellis (E. E. P., p. 207)
dealing with the E. sounds Cb, /, G, says : " Ch, J, G, are
also tsb, d^h when corresponding to the present French sounds
sb\ %h. Palsrgave admits that the French ch is English sh, but
he makes the French and English / identical. It is not easy
to determine whether in very old French ch, j were read tsh,
d%h or sh, %hn.
In any case, the sounds had a dental element in E. in the
i6th. c., as may be gathered from the remarks made by W.
S. in his Dictionary.
With the addition of n in W. before dental -f- sibilant,
compare that in.Br. before ts and ds above.
Exs. in W. :
ciaraens or ciarains (as in ciaraens tren, clos daraeni) E. car-
riage; W. S. has karias 'carryage' ; cwsberins or giusberins E.
gooseberries; cwrbins (and cwrbits) ca beating, a licking' from
E. koorbash, corbage, earlier kourbash, courbash, courbache, coor-
batch (cf. Fr. courbache, German karbatschen) ; redeins and
redyns E. radish, M. E. redich, radiche ; relins (and relings) in
N. W. dial, from E. relish ; the dial, ponsio 'to meddle,
bother' may be from E. botch (there is also a W. dial, form
poitsio) ; dial, grinjio, greinfio or grynjio 'to grudge' may be
from the E. grudge.
Similarity in the Phonology of Ji'clsb and Breton 93
53. — 2). Epenthetic r.
Exs. in Br. : artriclou in R. C., 8, p. 278 artriclou fez 'ar-
ticles de foi'; arsaut Fr. assault ; dibourcha Tr., from Fr. debou-
cher ; M. Br. H. ordrenanc^, Fr. ordonnance, but cf. Fr. ordre,
M. Br. (E.) rebreig and rebeig, Mod. Br. rebech, Vann. rebrai-
cheinhom O. Fr. rebecher; Mod. Br. (Treg.) martolod (Le
Clerc, p. 1 88 tad ar martolod Me pere du maielof); prenestr and
penestr (W.ffenestr, Lat.fenestra).
Exs. in W. :
aelgerth 'chin', earlier aelgeth (as in £). G.) M. Br. £/£«£( ;
brytheirio (J¥. S. bretheirio) for by their io \gorlleiuin may be for
gollewin, cf. L/^. L^^. gulkngin; llidiart fa kind of gate', pi.
llidiardau as in D. G., p. 39 Llidiardau dagrau digrwyf;
W7. L/jw in his Geiriadur has llidiart h. The word has proba-
bly been borrowed from E. at an early period; in O. E. hlid-
or blid^eaty M. E. lidyate, lidejate, later lidgale. In Mod. E.
dials it is lidgate and lidyate:, llewyrch Might, gleam' llewyrchu
'to shine' for M. W. llewych, llewychu, cf. Goronwy Owain
'Y wenlloer yn oer ei nych, | Hardd leuad ni rydd lewyctf ;
syfrdanu £to stun, to astound' seems to be for syfdanu from
Lat. subitaneus.
54. --3). Epenthetic consonants between consonants : in
£O. Br. strum (gl. copia), see Fed. § 50, 3 ; M. Br. stlaoh from
*«7 hanv according to Fed. § 331 ; W. ysllwn see ibid.; Stokes
(B. GL 0.) s. v. stloit prennou, says that5//o// stands for sloid,
and compares W. ysled, Ir. 5/^oJ, O. E. j//W0w ; he cites other
exs. stlabe% 'ordure', stlaon 'anguille' and estlam 'etonne-
ment'.
In W. we have a dental between n and r in andros, andras
for an-ras (from gras), Hendri for E. Henry ; Pendryn and P^w-
/^ry/z for Penrhyn, a place-name.
When compared with the mod. E. forms the following W.
loanwords appear to have an epenthetic g ore between s and
/, but in M. E. there where two forms, one with s and anot-
her with sc :
ysglisen 'a slice' M. E. slice, sclice, O. Fr. esclice; ysglander
94 Parry -Williams.
'slander' M. E. sclaundre O. Fr. esclandre; ysglent fa slide,
M. E. slenten, sclenten ; ysglatus 'slates' (W . S. ysclatyssen A
sclate) M. E. slat, sclat.
The intercalation of p between m and n is of frequent
occurrence in Br. The generally accepted explanation of the
appearance of a p after the w-ending of the i Pers. Plur. of
the verbal forms is that the p is a fulcrum between the m and
the n of the i Pers. Plur. Pron. iff'* which generally followed
it, see § 59.
M. Br. (E.) columpnenn and colupnen 'a column', dampnaj
cto condemn'; cf. darempret W. darymred; Sampson 'Samson',
hympn 'hymn'.
W,, however, has a tendency to drop the p when it does
occur in such positions in the loanwords from E. e. g. cwmm
'company'; preswmsiwn in W. S. 'presumption', temlasiwn
'temptation'; but cf. O. W. sumpl (gl. stimulus), Mod. W.
swmbwl and swml.
55. — 4). Epenthetic i and v in W. and Br.
Mention is made in Ped. § 218 of another case of insertion
of consonant, not exactly in the middle of a word, but in
a closely-connected word-group, as in M. Br. me a ia, me a
yd, meyelo 'I shall go', a ye^ '(who) went', a ioa '(who) was'.
The mod. W. spoken language has a trace of this also after
i, e. g. in N. W. mi ya i for mi af i 'I shall go', mi yds for mi
ds 'I went' ; cf. §§ 5 1 , 83 .
There is also mentioned the addition oft in such expres-
sions as aoualch a v-oad ak a v-oclvan 'enough blood and
weeping'. It has been said that the /in such W. words as lie-
fydd (pi. of lie 'place'), llyjon (pi. of llw 'oath, pledge') gwy-
ryfon (pi. of gwyry 'virgin') is an epenthetic/, but it is more
likely that the / in such cases has arisen from an intervocalic
g or (f)g, and that the y is merely a swarabhakti vowel; for
we have a form gwyrf by the side of gwyry, also gwerydd,
with interchange of/ and dd as in gwefus and gweddus 'lip',
pendefig and pendeddig 'prince, chief.
III. Epithesis.
Epithetic consonants are generally added to other final
Similarity in the Phonology of IVelsb and Breton 95
consonants. In W. and Br. the consonants that have been
added are /, n, r; c(g), b(p).
56. — a). Epithetic /.
As / was frequently lost in W. and Br. as final consonant
in a consonantal group, it was sometimes added superfluously.
Exs. :
Br. boesll and boest from O. Fr. boiste ; gwerbl given by Tr.
and Le Gon. may be the same as O. Br. guerf* (see R. C.,
25, p. 278); ruskl and rusk cbark of a tree', W. rhisg&ndrhisgl,
Cornish ruse; L. E. (H.*) has riska and riskla 'to glide, slip',
tratik and trankl, comparing Fr. trinquet and O. Fr. trine; Tr.
has trokl and trok, from Fr. troc.
W. cwrwgl and cwrwg 'a coracle' Ir. curacb ; dysgl (Lat.
discus}; awdl (Lat. oda); rhisgl and rhisg 'bark of trees' ;
ty-mestl 'a. tempest'; Tegeingl, a part of N. W., Flintshire, is
supposed to be from the tribal name Decangi.
57. -- b). Epithetic n.
M. Br. (E.) attorn from Fr. atour (cf. Fr. atourner).
W. miswrn 'a vizor', as in Gr. Roberts, Welsh Grammar,
Repr. R. C., p. [360] Mynn yn duyn i'r man i del | Misurn
fal arth a mussel (Gr. Hiraethog); masarn and basarn cmazer-
tree, maple'; siswrn cscissor(s)J.
58. - - c). Epithetic r.
L. E. (#.) has laslr, borrowed like Fr. lest from how Ger-
man last ; legestr, W. Uegest, both from a Low-Lat. *lecista l
for locusta; mistr from O. Fr. miste; sapr and sap from 'un
gaul-latinisee *sap-us' ; sabr 'sap' from O. E. saep, Mod. E.
sap, Br. gast (W. gast cbitch') has become gastr ; Fr. jeste >
Br. jestr, Fr. lest > Br. lastr.
In W. the form herodris a doubtful form of the \\ordkerod
'herald' from M. E. berode, her and.
i . This conjecture seems rather improbable.
96 Parry-U^illianis
59. — d). Epithetic /> (£)•
In Br. the supreme case is that of the i Pers. Plur. forms
of the Verb. The question whether this arose between the m
of the suffix and the initial n of the Pers. Pron. ni is fully
discussed in R. C. 16 pp. 201 sqq. See also Indg. Forsch. I
pp. 50 sqq. cf. Br. lamp 'a leap' W. Ham, memb (L. Ch.)
Fr. mime.
In W. there seem to be no certain examples except
perhaps swmp in R. B. H., II, p. 360 Gwedy cael swmp o
ariant. The common form is swm M. E. somme, summe.
60. -- e). Epithetic t.
In W. and Br. t is sometimes added to final n and s, in W.
to // and ff also.
Br. dreist (Vann. dres, drest) W. dros 'over, above' ; broust
'thicket' from Fr. brousse L. E. (H.).
M. Br. tirant Fr. tyran; in R. C. 25 p. 318 Sultant
'Sultan', cf. truant from Fr. truand, which according to L. E.
(7f.) is itself from Br. (W. truan), Vann. inkand, inkant Fr.
encan (Tr.), is from a Mid. Fr. form meant.
W. ditawnt, variant of dilaen, 'dittany', early E. dytane,
dyteyne; vergrist 'vergrece' W. S.-, later E. verdigris ; ffalst -
ffals 'false' in M. A. p. 365 a ffalst ac anghlaer ; pendist
'pentice' earlier E. pendis; Simwnt 'Simon' in R. B. //., II,
p. 378 Simwnt Mwnford (possibly formed after Edmwnt
'Edmund'); Dyfnaint 'Devon' from tribal name Dumnonii;
gofaint plur. of gof, forgo/am l ; cf. dial, drost for tiros 'over'
truwst from E. truce ; tunallt for tunell 'a ton' ; teligrafft
'telegraph' ; sifllt or silfft for silff 'shelf ; bwyallt for bwyell
'axe' ; angraifft and engraifft (M. W. also ^f/#. Cf. O. Ir.
angraib Lat. antigraplmm).
61. — i). Epithetic £ (/) after final ^.
M. Br. _/ir^ 2 'frais', jonisc from Fr. jaunisse ; putoaesq,
1. gofaint may be due to such a plur. form as ceraint.
2. Cf. North Fr. fern, form freske.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 97
putoasq, later pudask from Fr. putois ; Barnabasq 'Barnabas', cf.
also M. Br. fesqn-enn from Fr.fesse.
In W. ffresg or ftresc by the side ofjjres,ffrais 'fresh', and
bloesg, which according to Fed. § 132. 2 is from Lat. blaesus,
may be exs. of this addition of c (g).
In the dial, ot N. W. there is a tendency to add c or p
J o
to the final s in such words as anosg for anos 'more difficult',
diddosq for diddos 'sheltered', literally 'without (rain)-drops',
pythefnosg for pythefnos. In Lleyn pas whooping-cough' is pro-
nounced pdsg.
Loss of Consonants in W. and Br.
Initially, medially., and finally.
I. Initially.
62. • i). The initial consonant v (W. /) arising from
b or m under middle-mutation, disappears occasionally in W.
and Br.
a) Before another consonant.
In the Br. dial, of Treg. v is dropped in such a group as
daon 'Id for Leon daou vloa^ 'two years' W. dwy flwydd (See
Ernault, Petite Grammaire Brelonne, p. 5). In the dial, of
Ouessant v is lost in a combination like da Rest for da,
Vrest 'to Brest' (see footnote to R. C. 16 p. 205). Cf. Br.
kin 'top, sumnit' for *vlein, M. Br. blein L. E. (#.)., Leon
ar kin Treg. war kin 'above'.
In W. we may have an ex. in eleni 'this year', which
contains the same word blwydd-yn, in Br. hevlene, which
seems to be composed of this substantive with the Article or
Demons. Pronoun, cf. y llynedd 'last year', possibly for yr
flynedd > yr lynedd ;> y llynedd, as in y Haw 'the hand' for
yr law, Leon varkne, Treg. arkne, erlahne.
In M. W. there is a word eissyfflad ' 'hell', which' also
occurs in the forms eissyflat, eissyf wlad (as in M. A. p. 27)
and issaf lulad (as in M. A. p. 74), and apparently means
i. According to Prof. Sir E. Anwyl, this is a loan-word from, the Lat.
ex-sihilatus 'hissed out'.
PARRY- WILLIAMS. — These. 7
9 8 Parry- Willla mi>
'the nethermost region'. In the former forms the w has been
lost. In the N. W. dial, expressions like £tyd yn d' laen for
'tyrd yn dy flaen are frequent.
b). Before vowels.
Br., like W., dropped the v arising from m under mutation
(in apposition) of the word mab 'son (of)', mutated vab or
fab. It occurs in the form ab in L. Ch. (M. Br. Chart.), e. g.
Abguan, Abavin, etc. In the O. Br. Charters also there is no
trace ot v. In the Br. dial, of Ouessant initial v is lost in
such combinations as ar edred for ar vedred (W. beddrod)
'the grave-yard', ar eleien for ar veteien 'the priests'. Ct. (a)
above and see R. C. 16 p. 208.
In W., as in Br., the / oifab 'son ot' disappears in proper-
names as a rule, giving #£ (ap), of which these are innume-
rable exs., Dafydd ab Gwilym, etc.
Sometimes only the final labial b (or p) is left in such
names as Bellis for Ab Ellis,, Parri for Ab Hani, Powel for
Ab Howel.
The W. wrord ychydig is related to bach, bychan, M. W.
bychod, and stands for fychydig, mutated form of bychydig,
which is often found so written. In some of the older genea-
logies and elsewhere Ichan and Ychan are found for Fychan
from bychan 'small'. Another case is uch, also found in the
genealogies, and may have developed from jerch from merch
'daughter'. The form ach is also found, and may possibly be
another form of the same word, e. g. 'Marged uch Ifan' and
'Nanws ach Rhobert' well-known characters in N. W. in the
last century.
In N. W. achan, used parenthetically in conversation, is
for fachgen1, mutated form of bachgen in address; cf. dial, ella
for feallai 'perhaps', y tor fy 'my' as in yn y myw, yn y mhen
etc., also p'odd for pa fodd 'how', petal torpedfai if he were'.
The common forms i and innau stand for fi and finnau, and
arose originally most probably after final/ in such forms as
i . Or rather for fachm from bachan another form of bachgen < *bach-
gben, the spirant gh being hardened to g in one case, and disappearing in
the other.
Similarity in the Phonology of H'clsb and lire I on 99
gennyf i 'by me' gwelaf innau 'I also see', then transferred
to such forms as fy uihcu i 'my head', gwelais innau 'I, too,
saw'.
63. — 2). Loss of initial / in W. and Br.
Br. eciui, enn 'right, is W. iawn l Ir. (finnan (W. gwirion).
Cf. Br. ail, av 'liver' by the side of W. iau, afti, Ir.
ca .
i has been lost in W. before y and in Br. before / in yrck,
M. W. plur. of iwrch 'roe-buck' (Mod. PI. iyrchod, as in
Caniad Solomon 3, 5), Br. ilc'hier, pi. of ialch 'purse' ; cf.
W. Iddew from Lat. Judaeus^ Ithel, O. Br. lutbael, M. Br.
lu^el ; W. ustus 'justice' as in Ustus Heddiuch 'Justice of the
Peace', from M. E. iustice, Justice; but cf. Yr lustus Llwyd,
name of one of the Gogynteirdd. The initial / ()/) of E. is
often dropped in the E. spoken by certain classes of W.
people. Similarly u (w) of E. is lost before o or u. This is
found in the loanwords, e. g. wdroyth, wdrwyth, wdnuth,
M. E. woodruffe, ludward, wtwart ( woodward', wstud 'wors-
ted'.
64. -- 3). We have already seen how W. and Br. added a
g to some initial vowels. W. seems to have dropped an initial
g in ogof(for gogof), dor (for gelor), efail 'smithy' (for gefail,
cf. gof 'smith'), euog 'guilty' (for geuog, cf.. gau 'false').
II. Medially.
65. - - i). Loss of intervocalic v (f) and w in W. and
Br.
a). In Br. :
ail for avu, afu ; bual (Lat. bubalus) ; M. Br. Broerec for
older Brouueroc', M. Br. coabrennou for *couff-oabren- ; M. Br.
dad (i6th. c) for later daved, devad (i8th. c.) 'towards' ; deut
'come ye', cf. W. dyfod; Vann. eit for Leon evitmy Vann. el
i. The O. Br. emit, M. Br. e/n, O. Cornish mw-seem, howewer, to be
the older forms. Cf. O. W. nem-heunaur in the Juvencus poem; see
Thurneysen, Indg. Forsch. (An^eiger), 26, p. 26.
100 Parry -Williams
for Leon evel ; M. Br. eon for O. Br. euon-oc W. eivyn;
M. Br. goanaCy W. gofynag ; M. Br. gaes (? from O. Fr.
gavois)'y M. Br. gouarn, Fr. gouverner, M. Br. gueus W. £w-
/ky, ^ztmy ; goner, Vann. £0ar£ W. gofer ; M. Br. #0£/ for
earlier Houuel W. Hoiuel, Hywel ; Vann. for*/. Le"on lavaret,
W. lief am ; M. Br. ^ww, Lat. pavon-is, W. p#w« ; M. Br.
saour and sauour Fr. saveur ; R. C., 8, p. 80 soueran Fr. ww-
verain-y R. C. 15 p. 352 0//er 'Oliver' ; Br. km/ Lat.
fibula ; M. Br. scouarn, scouarnec. Vann. scoarn, scoarmc, W.
ysgyfcrttog.
b). In W. :
/w0/, O. W. /w^/ (gl. fibula) ; ^M^/, Lat. bubalus ; t«j for
fg/bw (M. W. «w, ceveis) and other forms of the verb ##/,
ro^/ ; ro^/ for ry/o^z ; ^yflf for dywed 'say thou' ; flfdrf for
dyfod\ cwrdd for cyjwrdd 'to meet' (N. W. cyjwr)\ gweus
iorgwefus (dial, also gweddus) ; />a/m from La.t. pavon-is; S. W.
for ymofyn 'to seek'.
66. — 2). Loss of intervocalic Br. ^, W. ^.
a). In Br.
Vann. aourn, Leon a^purn, ar^purn, W. arddwrn 'wrist' ;
M. Br. bara^peSy MoJ. Br. barado^ Vann. baraoue^i M. Br.
daou^purn znddouzprn, later daourn (i8th. c.), W. deu-ddwrn ;
badeoui'y M. Br. bade^our, W. bedyddiwr ; ^ow^, M. Br.
gou^puc W. gwddwy gwddf, gwddwg (S. W.) ; guezen 'tree',
later £W«, Vann. ^w^w ; M. Br. gou^put 'to know', later gout ;
^zw/ for *gouij\ gou^ify W. gwyddif 'hedging-bill' ; Vann.
rouelly Leon r^/, W. rhuddell.
b). In W. :
M. W. mywn, Mod. W. mewn (N. W. miawny S. W. miwri)
is supposed to be cognate with Ir. meddn; in the N. W. dial
wsti be for wyddost ti bethy also own for oeddwn, cf. /<#&/ for
toddodd from
67. - - 3). Loss of v, /before liquids and nasals.
a). In Br. :
L. Ch. OHy M. Br. aon, aouny W. ofn, M. Br. queiny queyn
Similar ity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 101
W. cefn , M. Br. quendfru, c/n hi/lent W. cefnder, cyfnither\
Tr. kan, kan-dour 'gouttiere de maison' may be a shortened
form of Fr. canal or the same word as W. cat'n, cafn-dwr
of the same meaning ; L. Ch. (M. Br. chart.) don in
Donuuallon later doun, W. diufn ; M. Br. dour, W. diw,
dwfr; Tr. lor, lorn, M. Br. loffr, W. llwfr. ; L. Ch. garik;
gorikby the side of gavrik W. gafr-, M. Br. (E.) pour, paur,
Mod. Br. paour, Fr. pativre', M. Br. scoul, W. ysgwft, Fr.
escoufle.
b). In W. :
annwn for annwfn ; ^t/r for *fa;fr ; <:d/ for ^ ; M. W.
divyfrein and dwyrein, Mod. W. dwyrain ; #«//*' for cefnlli(f)
(cf. cefn-for); dodren (N. W.), for dodrefn 'furniture' ; «w for
^q/w M. W. g/w^yw ; JT Ell for^r £*//? (possibly a dual form of
gafl\ yr Ell is a local pronunciation of the name of these
Carnarvonshire peaks1); gwarthal dial, for gwrthafl; anod-
dun may be for anoddyfn from goddyfn, cf. O. Ir.fudumain;
cynither dial, for cyfnither.
68. — 4) Loss of r before n.
a) In Br. :
M. Br. (E.) bonn, Bowing bounaff, from O. Fr. borne,
bourne2. Vann has also bonn; lukann in R. C., 14, p. 274
(grand) nez, from Fr. lucarne, cf. Mod. Br. a^purn for
ar^purn (W. arddwn), diou^ (W. o-ddiiurth'), ou% (W.
tt^tJ^).
b). In W. :
Chiefly in the spoken language, e. g. (g)arddwn for
arddwrn 'wrist' ; hespwn for hespiurn ; asgwn for asgzurn;
Sadivn for Sadwrn. Cf. /?/w^/ 'Robert', #tc'/^/ for ffivlbert,
M. E. folmarde-, ' astahvm for erstalm = er ys talm.
1 . Cf. y Gyro
2. By the side of these forms, however, there is an O, Fr. form
bon(ti)e.
IO2 Parry-Williams
69. — 5). Loss of n before j,/, r.
This loss is due to the assimilation of the consonants.
For original ns becoming ss in Celtic, see Fed. § 50, 10. In
the loanwords from Lat. s and/(/) appear for ns and nfl, as
in W. cyson O. Br. coson (gl. canora) Lat. consouns-, W.
cusyl, M. Br. ^/^///, Lat. consilium, M. Br. (E.) tousaff Lat.
tonsare ; W. £)$w, M. Br. £0jf&r, Lat. confession W. nffern, M.
Br. /j^m, Lat. injerniim.
The following occur among the later borrowings :
a) In Br. :
M. Br. assaign Fr. enseigne (as in R. C., 25, p. 320 dindan
assaign lesus 'sous Venseigtude Jesus'); Tr. e$an% Fr. encens,
cf. f/w/tfr in 7?. C. 3 p. 72 Kalon an z/w/flr a zo gae cle coeur
de Yengeokur est gai'; L. E. (77.) //Y« (and m/'m) from O.
Fr. en gin (Lat. ingeniwn) ; yffamus Fr. injdme in ^. C. 75
p. 296, but in .#. C. 26 p. 202 tut ynfam egens infdmes ;
afour^r. en foule \\\ R. C., 21, p. 138; M. Br. f/iera Fr.
Henri', arach Fr. enrage-r in J?. C., 26, p. 104 Maximian
flmr/7 'Maxitnien enrage ; w/^w/ Fr. instant in ^. C., 24,
p. 264.
b). In W. :
W. dial. /o.y for /oww, Willias for Williams ; 9^ E. cow-
ceit, cysetlyd 'conceited'; in 70/0 G0^ p. 175, Kloystr Jfiw/-
m«w/r fthe cloister of Westminster '; f/7. 5. has dywgwyl
lowres S. Lawrence day; cyffyrddus from M. E. conforte; N.
W. r)^;/0 for cyn(e)fino fto become used to' ; Harri 'Henry',
cf. Ptfm' and Penri.
n is lost before / and ;w in dial. oj/jy« (canlyn), camol
(canmol).
70. — b). Loss of w before f.
a). In Br. :
M. Br. qwmet, qnement, quemment, later Reined, W.
cymaint. Mod. Br. nemeit Vann. nemet, cf. Br. mm^ W.
maint arid namyn (? for namynf); M. Br. had nemet, nement
I, The assimilation of the w had already taken place in Latin itself.
Similarity in fbc Phonology of ll'clsb diul Breton 103
and ncmert; M. Br. eiita, Mod. Br. eta, cf. W. yn\c\ M. Br.
ganl Vann. get-, Br. kenta,V*rm. keiah, \V. cyutaf \ Mod.
Br. kent 'before', cf. M. Br. aguetou, W. gyinieii 'a short time
ago'; Mod. Br. etre and entre 'entre'.
L. E. (H) ekan tkant, from O. Fr. eiicanl ; M. Br. (E.).
setancc 'sentence', also setanf in A. f. C. L. p. 606 ; momet
'moment' in R. C., 26, p. 98 ar momet ag an n'eur 'le
moment et 1'heure'; Vann. fetan (Tr.) 'fountain', Leon
feunteun.
b). In N. W. the literary form cymaint is pronounced cymid,
cimid or am// ; o-)'^ 'with' may be the same word as gan
for gant 'with'; in M. W. the form was gyt a or y gyt
a, showing that the Mod. W. gyda is really two words.
71. — i). Loss of the guttural element of*.
For Lat. x in W. and Br. see Fed. § 136, 2.
Among the late borrowings, —
a). In Br. :
M. Br. (E.) vessafYr. vexer; esplet O. Fr. exploit; issil
'exil' butexuly 'exiler'. These are only apparent exs. as O. Fr.
has also the forms esploit, eissil, essil.
R. C., 4, p. 68 en bloaz biseost 'Tan bissextile'; R. C., 8,
p. 356 da ober espres oreson Fr. expres, cf. R. C., 25, p. 318
espres j R. C., 25, p. 420 esplicamp scler 'expliquons claire-
ment'.
b). In W. :
sis as 'six aces' in L. G. C., p. 159 Trwy bob gwregys mal
sis as.
The E. x has its elements separated in some dials, e. g.
N. W. cysact E. exact, cysam E. examination).
12. - - 8). Loss of consonants in other consonantal
groups in W. andBr., frequently caused by assimilation.
d : Br. dichentiJ, duchentil, plur. litchejitil, tuchentikt for
tud-gentil 'gentilshommes', see L. Ch. (VJ) s. v.; M. Br.
arcbdiagon is Mod. Br. arriagon 'archdeacon' ; R. C., 15,
p. 264 cepennant Fr. cependant.
1 04 Parry- Williams
W. prynhawn, pyrnhawn, p'nawn for pryd-naiun ; ffrins E.
friends in Cym. Lien Cymr. Ill, p. 47 ; nwpren for ymod-bren
(cf. di-ymod) ; almzuns E. almonds', grwnsyl E. groundsel;
Gwinsor 'Windsor' in /. G0£/7 p. 113, Winsawr L. G. C.
P-33-
/ : M. Br. (E.) /or/>/, forjftf from O. Fr. tortfait.
W. pompren for pontbren, minciac (dial.) E. mint-cake \
hynsmen E. -huntsmen in I,. G. C. p. 28; torn* in the expres-
sion 'dweyd tow/ 'to tell fortunes'. E. destiny ; Nanlle for
£ : a din e toug respet 'et il me rcspecte R. C., 25, p. 334,
(in this case, however, the older Fr. pronunciation had no
c) ; M. Br. croupren and croucpreti', M. Br. uitoer, uitoar by
the side of victoer Fr. victoire', amid (Tr.) Fr. santual (sanc-
tuaire' ; klopenn for kloc-penn (see Fed. § 330).
W. cantor E. character; spectol (W . S. special) E. j/>fl>
taclt(s)'9 clopenn for clocpenn or clogbenn (see Fed. § 330) ;
disdain, distein as in M. ^4. pp. 264 a, 265 a from O. E.
disc-fien 'dish-servant'.
£.M. Br. (EJillur 'bright' W.eghir; M. Br. *7w 'church'
W. eglwys. The Fr. ^w became « in M. Br. as in Anes Agnes,
din cdigne', cf. Mod. Br. dinite 'dignite' (see R. C., 14,
p. 304). These latter forms are not cases of the loss of g,
as the gn denotes an n mouille. W. arlwydd by the side ot
arglwydd ; elwissic an early Ms. form of eglwysig ; grwnach
or the commoner grwgnach.
chofW., c'hof. Br. :
M. Br. archdiagon is Mod. Br. arriagon.
W. archiagon for archddiagon ; golf on for golchffon ; gwal-
stod, gwalstawd 'interpreter' in Mab. and M. A,, pp. 128 a,
277. O. E. wealh-stod.
m : M. Br. tabourin Fr. tambourin, also in 7?. C. 2, p. 374
he tapoulin 'son tambour'.
W. bar clod 'apron' as in Cym. Lien Cymr. II, pp. 20, 21,
M. E. barmcloth, O. E. bearmcldfi', pythefnos 'a fortnight' for
pymtheng-nos .
n : Br. avy 'envie' in A. f. C. L. p. 606.
W, tyrpeg from E, turnpike,
Similarity in the Phonology oj Welsh and Breton 105
b : M. Br. sustance 'substance'.
W. modrydafis said to be for tnodr-bydaf or -fydaf; Hwmr
Humberin L. G, C. p. 285 A'i.wayw hyd Hwmr.
% in Br., dd in W. :
M. Br. seitec, seittec, Mod. Br. seilek 'seventeen' from sei^
'seven' and dek 'ten'.
W. giuybod is for *gwyddbod; adyn for *ad-ddyn, atal for *ad
ddal; rhegofydd and rhegddofydd, see R. C., 9, p. 174 (Loth);
diwedydd for diwtdd-dydd ; gwybwyll for gwyddbwyll;
Dinorwig for *Din~orddwig 'the fort of the Ordovices' ; cf.
dial, bolon for boddlon, cerad for cerdded,ffylon for ffyddlon.
In the W. dials, many other consonants are lost in conso-
nantal groups, e. g. cymyd for cywryd, darn for darfu, allwys
for arlluys, pelris 'partridge', Margiad 'Margaret', wstud
'worsted', cwmni 'company'. Cf. loss, of / in W. testitn from
Lat. teslimoniiim, egwyddor from Lat. abeced&rium, Urien for
O. W. Urbgen; and loss of w in ynwprau in Mab. (Pwyll P.
Dyfed) for ym-wobr-hau.
III. Finally.
73. -- i). Loss of/(V) and w finally after vowels.
In Fed. § 99, 2, we find it stated that in monosyllables in
W. a lenated m disappears after and ft, wand in Br. after 0,
//, also in Br. after other vowels but leaving behind a nasa-
lisation of the vowels ; that it also dissappears in an
unaccented syllable in W. after, i, e. g. O. W. erchim, Mod.
W. erchi; that lenated m never disappears after an unaccented
a. For Mod. W. the last statement does not hold good,
for we have even in the literary language such forms as
gaea for g(uaj\ and -a for -of in superlatives; in some texts,
as e. g. in Morgan Llwyd, the/ of the r Pers. sing, of
Verbal forms is lost, and the / of the Pron. is added e. g.
gwelai for giuelafi. In the spoken language the loss of the/
in such forms is regular.
Some early cases of loss of / in W. are cu- 'dear'. M.
Br. cuff; daiu e son-in-law'. M. W pi. dofton M. Br. detiff;
O. W. hit, M. W. and Mod. W Haw, cf. llofrudd fmur-
i o 6 Parry- Williams
derer'; lloflen 'glove', llofnod 'signature', M. W. unllofyawc,
'single-handed'; rhaw 'spade' M. Br. reuff; plu for pluf
'feathers' M. Br. pluf.
Other later examples found in the written, as well as the
colloquial, language are M for claf 'ill', clwy for clwyf,
bwy' for bwyf; Gaea, Ha, hunlle', ne\ tre\ pentre, cry ',
cyfn , difri', digri ; do , rho, ogo, etc. The loss of final tu
after vowels in W. occurs in S. W, heddi for heddyw, N.
W. ydi for ydyw. In Br. the following are exs. of loss of
final ff and w : M. Br. adevry, a deffri, Mod. Br. a*evri
'seriously' w. o ddifrif-, Br. sa 'stand thou' for sav, saf, sao
(See R. C., 7, p. 308), and even in M. Br. ere for creff W.
cryf ; crisqui for crisquiff, in Mod. Br. missi M. Br. mechij ;
nai from Fr. naif, joli for M. Br. joliff (see R. C., 21,
p. 142); cf. />/<*, p/^w, L. CK. (M. Br. Chart.), O. Br.
Chart, pluiv W. plwyf. In Br. zc' is lost in M. Br. gui for
gum in the M. Br. Chart. (L. Ch.\ O. Br. uiiiti in the O.
Br. Chart. (L. C/?). W.gwiw; gle and ^w in the M. Br.
Chart. (L. CA.), W.gloyw, edi, edy L. Ch. (V.) 'is' W.
ydyw.
74. -—2). Loss of final u (represented in W. by wand in
M. Br. by u, o, in Mod. Br. v, o, Vann. hue = ii) after /, nyr.
Cf.§35-
a) In Br. :
According to Ernault, Petite Gramtnaire Bretonne, p. 5, the
dial, of Treg. drops the v or o in such words as Leon dero,
Treg. derv and der, W. derw ; Treg. tar W. tarw, cf. Treg. tar-
ga^ 'tom-cat'. Exs. of this loss date back to M. Br. For the
Mod. Br. banv, bano, the Catholicon has ban. It seems, howe-
ver, to be a special feature of thedial. of Treg., at least in the
pronunciation, for besides the example cited above, it has ban
for hanv or hano (W. enw 'name'), inder for inderv 'afternoon'.
See R. C., 8, p. 32, where ar vorskah is said to be a Treg. form
of ar vanuskaon or varvskaon 'death-couch', W. mawysgafn
of the same meaning, being a compound of marw zndysgafrt
(cf. text in R. C., 12, p. 210 ar varvscaon 'les treteaux
funebres').
Si military in the Phonologv of //V/.v/j and Krclon 107
In addition to these may be mentioned ban in en ban Done
'in the name of God' (Vann. 17 th. c. See L. Ch. (F) s. v.
ban} for hatw or hanu of M. Br., W. enw ; also /0w in e» treh
hac el Ian ag er tnor 'flux et reflux de la mer' (see L. Ch. (F)
s. v. Ian), W. /tew ctide'. Cf. further M. Br. (E.^Jer by the
side of ferv and ferou, W.$yr/, from Lat. Jirmus; L. E. (//".)
/;<7/ by the side of /jfl/v, /Wo.
b). In W. :
There are several exs. of the loss of w after /, n, r in W.
After occurs for afierw 'untidy, disorderly' of the same mea-
ning as bier ; Aman in the place names Bryn Aman, Cwm
Aman etc., and the river Aman, is in M. W. Amanw, as in
Mab. Kulhiuch ac Oliuen 'Mynydd Amanw' ; arddel 'to recognize,
to own' is probably for arddelw, which occurs in Mab. Piuyll
Pendefig Dyved 'mab ar y harddelw hwy' ; W. Llyn in his
Geiriadur has ymarddel : claimio ; cefnder ccousin' for M. W.
cefynderw ; possibly V\SQ cyfnither 'cousin (fern.)' cf. M. Br. qni-
niteru, but in Br. Gl. 0. we have comnider uel nit (gl. amite)
which isthe same word ; gwarchod cto protect' M. W. gwarc-
hadzv M. W. gwarchadw may have become gwarchawd and
finally gwarchod) ; llwr for llwrw 'track' (Ir. lorg, Br. lerc'h) in
the expression Iwr i drwyn literally 'in the track of his nose' ,
sal for salw 'mean, poor, sick' O. W. halou, cf. Mab. Kulh-
wch ac Olwen 'rac salwtn oed uynet y ymdaraw ac er', where
salwen appears to be an error for salwed the equative form
ot salw ; syber for M. W. syberw 'stately, noble' from Lat.
superbus In M. W. dial nen Tad is heard for yn emu('r) Tad 'in
the name of the Father', cf. also nendr Tad. In Mod. W. med-
dwdod 'drunkenness' (from nieddw) is pronounced medd-dod ;
cynnwrf 'commotion' is shortened to cynnwr. Cf. talarw 'fur-
row-end' by the poet Cynddelw for the later talar.
75. -- 3). Loss of final dd of W. and ^ of Br.
a). In Br. :
The loss of final ^ is a feature peculiar to the dials, of Treg.
and Vann. Where Leon has ^ Treg. has nil, e. g. karante^
Treg. karahte 'love', dei^ Treg. de 'day' W. dydd. (Ernault, Pet.
io8 Parry-Williams
Gramm. Bretonne, p. 5). Likewise in Vann. we have di, de rfo
Leon dei% (R. C. 3, p. 171 Remarques sur le Bas-Vannetais,
Loth). Cf. demeu^, desadorn, de^guener, dysull 'Tuesday, Satur-
day, Friday, Sunday' in L. Ch. s. v.
b). In W. :
dy for dydd ' in dygw^l 'feast-day' also in the spoken lan-
guage in Dy' Mawth, Dy' Llun etc., except Dydd Ian which
becomes Difia ; goscor for goscordd, see R. C. 29 p. 68 ; eiste
for eistedd, but eiste may be the older form, as it is found in
M. W. ; i fyny 'upwards' for i fynydd, the latter being the
only M. W. form. In the Mod. W. dials, dd often disappears
as in N. W. claw for clawdd (cf. be for belli), and also after
r as in bwr, cer, gar, cwpwr for bwrdd, cerdd, gardd, cwpwrdd.
In S. W. it is nuch more common e. g. trydy, pedwery for
trydydd, pedwerydd. For S. W. newi by the side of neiuydd see
R. C., 6, p. 15 (Rhys), and cf. Dewi by the side of Dafydd.
76. — 4). In the Br. combination Ic'h arising from -*lg- the
ch is occasionally dropped, as in the M. Br. 2 Pers. Sing.
Imperative form dal 'hold thou' by the side of dalc'h ; cf.
R. C. 8, p. 414 dal liufre guenn 'tiens la blanche livreV but
also ibid. Dalch badizient 'Recois le bapteme'. With this may
be compared Mod. Br. eul, heul (W. o/), O. Br. a olguo (gl.
indagatione) possibly for a olgou plur. ofolg, W. ol.
In W. the *lg in such cases develops into la, ly or /, the a
and y being probably epenthetic vowels2 originally between
the / and the lenated g (cf. gwyrf and gwyryf, gwyry from
Lat. virgd) e. g. bola, boly, bol Br. bolc'h; data, daly, dal Br.
ddlc'h; cola, col, O. W. colginn (gl. aristam). The Br. forms
dal and eul (heul) are then isolated forms corresponding in
their final form of development to the regular W. forms. The
W. helcyd, a frequentative from of hel, hela, hely, can hardly
have preserved the original guttural.
1 . In these cases dy may be for dyw (dmu) or dydd, which occur side by
side in M. W.
2. a and y may, however, be some development of the lenated g.
Similarity In the Phonology oj Welsh and Breton 109
77. -- 5). Loss of final, d, t after consonants.
a). In Br. :
M. Br. (E.) epac from Fr. ipacit ; bacc from O. Fr. bast ;
gon from Fr. gond; B. Gl. 0. soeul (gl. fiscum) possibly, like
W. swllt, borrowed from Lat. solidus, though this is very
improbable ; L. E. (/f.) labou^, M. Br. lapous, borrowed from
Lat. locusta or O. E. lopust ; moues (Vann. moucsf) from. O. Fr.
moiste. Br. has two forms trubar and trubarl 'treacherous' see
R. C., 25, p. 264).
b). In W. :
albras, albrys by the side of albrast, albrysl from E. arbalest,
arbalist or arblast 'a cross-bow' ; the word occurs often in
early W. e. g. in D. G. p. 136 Traidd or albras trwyddo eii-
brath ; bors in llys y fors, rupture-wort' possibly from some
form of the E. burst ; cyfaill for M. W. cyfaillt as in D. G.
Cyfaillt a mab aillt y beirdd ; cofen, cwfen by the side of cofaint,
cw faint, M. E.covent ; Hengis in M. A., p. 120, for Hengist ;
tabar E. tabard in M. A., p. 328 Gwerthu'r tabar a'r bara ;
tancr, tancer E. tankard as inZ). G., p. 167 Tincr a'i cant with
fol tancr cul, W. Llyn in his Geiriadur has 'paeol : tancer ;
7>m 'Trent (the river) in L. G. C., p. 244 O Vynwy drwy Wy
i avon Dren. In the Mod. spoken language one hears Balis
'Baptist', contrac 'contract', Methadus 'Methodist'. In the
early consonantal group st, the t is sometimes dropped as in
drws, but Llanrwst from Grwst or Gwrwst.
78. -- 6) Fate of nt in W. and Br.
In W. medially nn appears for earlier nt, but in final posi-
tions nt appears . The final group ntt however, is often redu-
ced to n even in the M. W. period. In Br., on the other
hand, nt appears throughout as a general rule, and the change
to nn in medial and final positions is very rare. The following
area few ex's, in which Br. coincides with W. in this res-
pect :
iio Purn'-JJrilliams
M. Br. cannat l fa messenger' W. cennad have been equa-
ted with Ir. cet ; guet&m, guenit etc., personal forms from gant
'with' O. Br. centet (gl. penes temet), W. gennyf, gennyt etc.;
Mod. Br. gourvenn W. gorfynt, Ir. format ; M. Br. nouenn for
n-ouenn from Lat ungmnium ; in Z. Q?. (M. Br. Chart.) we
have cen by the side of cent, chit, O. Br. Chart, cent, cen, kiut,
kin.
Further, in the Mod. Br. dial, of Vann. (Sarzeau), a similar
change takes place by a kind of assimilation. Traces of the
same assimilation are found in the dial of Treg. See R. C , 3,
p. 47.
In M. W. there are traces of the loss of / in the 3 Pers
Plur. of verbal forms and of the forms of the conjugated
prepositions. Since the M. W. period / has dropped in
arian, cywrain (but cywraint, in Caniad Salomon vii. i),
dy$ryn-> plygain (M. W. pylgeint), lloergan (M. W. lloer-
gant), tremyn (M. W. dremynt), ngaln. In Lib. Land, nan
occurs for nant. The W. namyn2 is probably for namynt, cf.
Br. nement. nemert, nemeit, and W. maint, Br. rnent. Cf. also
can, gan, for cant, gant, and cyn 'before' preposition with cynt
adjective and adverb.
79. — 7) Loss of final / and r after consonants.
a) In Br. :
i. Loss of / in -ab from Fr. -able in such words as lendb,
stagab, lachab, see R. C., 4, p. 145 ;disquib for diskibl inR. C.,
20, p. 66 Do disquib Ian ; drask L. E. (H.), M. Br. drasgl ;
cha^ub, Fr. chasuble in R. C., 16, p. 128 eurcha^ub sulaouret
cune chasuble doree' ; capap Fr. capable in R. C., 25 p. 432
rag ren d-on quet capap de dongen mineuoet ccar je ne suis
pas capable de tenir 1'alene' ; epengfr. epingle in R. C., 16,
p. 231 (Ernault, Sur Par got de la Roche); horib Fr. horrible
L. Ch. (F.). cf. M. Br. (E.) cabus by the side of cabins (cou-
pable' Mod. Br. kablu%; Mod. Br.^aw/(adj.) and goestl (subs.)
W. gwystl.
1. The improbability of this view has been shown in Indg. Forsch. 14
p. 131 (Thurneysen), where the Lat. comineatus is given as the more pro-
bable origin.
2. Cf., however, Fed. II, p. 261.
Similarity in the Phonology oj ll'elsh and Href on ill
2. Loss of r in M. Br. (E). eont and eontr, Mod. Br. eontr }
Vann. (Ch.) iondre, bas-vann. yont, W. ewythr, (for the Br.
forms iondr, yont plur. yontow see R. C., 26, p. 85) ; frenest,
fenestr and penestr Mod. Br. prenestr W. ffenestr, M. Br. has
also prenest, prenestr ; to and tor W. /tor ; wg«f, /oew/r and
joendr 'jointure' ; west, rnestr and niaestr 'maitre' ; terrest 'ter-
restre', cf. ^. C., 10, p. 196, er Barados teraf; Vann. gobre, Leon
^opr, ^r, bas-vann. gob cf. ^op, L. Ch. (F.) ; M. Br. powrp
Fr. pourpre L. Ch. (^.) ; ^- ^- (^)- n/^ from Fr. rustre;
fiev Fr. fievre, m^ Fr. maigre in J?. C., 16, p. 231 (Ernault,
Sitr r Argot de la Roche) ; gwineg Fr. vinaigre ; po/ for po/r in
R. C., 23, p. 290 o quafan eun pot mad cje vous trouve un
solide gaillard', but plur. potret in the same text ; poult for
poult r (Vann. peudre, bas-vann. paot) in R. C., 9, p. 206 en
poult cen poussiere' ; cahb for r^w/;r (M. Br. cambr Fr. chambre)
in 7^. C., 15 p. 350 pod e ganb ; ydolat Fr. idoldtre in ^. C.,
25 p. 326 ydolat miserabl 'miserable idolatre' ; iont for iontr
M. Br. eontr rhymes with pront in R. C., 23 p. 128.
b). In W. :
1. Loss of / in the spoken language in such forms as dis-
gib (S. W.) for disgybl, hiddig for buddy gl 'spot', inwnwg for
mwnwgl 'neck', perig for perygl 'danger', posib for posibl 'pos-
sible', Llangwnad for Llangwnadl, a panish in Lleyn (Carnar-
vonshire).
2. Loss of n in brawd 'brother' for *brawdr ; cebyst for
cebystr (Lat. capistrum) ; ^^//7 generally in the spoken language
for ewytbr 'uncle' ; ^m^/ for fenestr ; trawst (oi*irawslr (Lat.
transtrutn) ; and in the colloquial language arad for ^/7/i//-
'plough', Dwalad or Cydwalad for Cadwaladr ; pd/fld for
paladr 'shafc' in such expressions as 'palad o ddyn', cf. also
diath for dieithr 'strange' as well as diartb by metathesis ; in
N. W. vinag and vineg for vinegr 'vinegar'.
80. - 8). Loss of final n end r afters vowels.
a). In Breton :
• Leon ama, amah 'here', Treg. aman, M. Br. aman\ M. Br.
(E.) />rem^ and breman 'now', Leon brema, breman Treg. bre-
112 Parry -Williams
man ; M. Br. pa, pan 'when, since', Leon pa, Treg. pa, pan
W. pan ; Mod. Br. kala and kal for M. Br. qualan from Lat.
calendae, W. calan In bas-vann. the final r of such words as
breur 'brother' W. brawd, and leur floor', W. llawr, is some-
times not pronounced at all. See R. C., 1 1, p. 209. Cf. the loss
of/ in Br. morse, 'morceau' and lore 'laurier', both taken from
early Fr. forms in -/, see L. E. (//.) s. v.
b) In W. n may have been lost in ynia : 'here' M. W.
yman and yma ; M. W. llyma 'lo here ! here is' and II y man,
cf. dytna of the same meaning ; M. W. efelly, felly, 'thus'
composed of efel-hyn 'like this', as in M. Br. evelhenn, Mod.
Br. (Leon) evellen, Treg. eve] hen, cf. evelse 'like that'. In the
colloquial language, especially of S. W., final n is frequently
dropped after a vowel, in such words as the preposition meiun
'in inside*, perso for person, cyfiaw (orcyjiawn, etc. In N. W. one
hearsdala poethion 'nettles' for dalan fordanal {ordarwdl,gu'iala
fedw 'birch-rod' for gw ialen fedw, cyfa for cyfan 'whole', meli
wynl for melin wynt 'wind-mill'. In N. W. also the form berw
dwr is found for berwr dwr (Ir. biror, bilor, Br. beler). Ct.
Nant Ffranco(n}, Dol Bebi(n). Here may be mentioned the
loss of ;/ after a consonant in Br. him by the side of hi inn
(Tr.) Fr. hymne, and W. Lincol 'Lincoln' in L. G. C. p. 45 Y
neidr o Gaer Lincol.
81. — Metathesis in W. and Br. :
This takes place in W. and Br. as a rule when one of the
consonants concerned is a liquid or a nasal. For the meta-
thesis which took place in the case of initial gul, gur see
§ 23. Other exs. in W. and Br. are the following : -
a). In Br. :
balan by the side of banal, M. Br. bala^n, W. banadl, berma
by the side of bremJ, bremah, M. Br. breman ; M. Br. (E.)
cour^ 'vulva' W. crwth, croth ; danfue% and danve^ by the
side of dapie^, W. defnydd; Mod. Br. euflenn for M. Br.
i . The forms yma, yman ; llyma, llyman ; cyfa, cyfan may possibly pre-
sent two distinct forms of the element -ma(ii).
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 113
eluenn, W. elf en from Lat. elementum ; M. Br. fonrmag from
Fr. frontage; M. Br. gue%r 'green' Mod. Br. guer, W. gwyrdd
from Lat. vir(i)dis ; Mod. Br. halan, for hanal M. Br. ala^n
W. anadl; Vann. menal, Leon malan for M. Br. mala%n ca
sheaf; Mod. Br. pinvidik -crich' W. pendefig; L. Ch. (V ^ per-
pet by the side of pepret, bepret, M. Br. pepret; Mod. Br. £/dtf&
W. casglu 'to collect, gather' ; L. CA. (P.) me^ellour ca mir-
ror is possibly for emqdlour ; pour fit Fr. profit; pourmenafffr.
promener, (but in O. Fr. and in Mod. Fr. dial, the forms
po(ii)rfil and pourmener occur).
b) In W. :
albras, albrys, albrast, albrys t from E. arbalest, arbalist,
arblast ; barlat from E. mallard ; nildws ca nedleouse' (/'F. 5.)
but early E. as a form with Id also ; plygain for M. W. £y/-
^m and pylgeint ; £0/fo'o (N. W.) from E. cobble.
In the spoken language of the W. dials', exs. are very nume-
rous. M. W. has dafrod (darfod), dafnon (danfon), dalan for
danal (danadl), cyrbwyll (crybiuyll), censlys (cenllysg), digiuiddil
(digwilydd), gomrod (gormorf), dydd lauDrychafael, andM. W
Drychafael1*), entyrch (entry cK), pyrgethu (prygethu), pyrnawn
(prynhazuu = prydnawri), ysbig (ysgufr), shuan (llyswen),
S. W. has clasgii (casglu), denfydd (defnydd), diofedd (diod-
def), giddil (gilydd), ffrylling (ffyrlling, jfyrling), etc.
cf. oddigerth for oddieithr, diarth (N. W.) for dieithr ; tangne-
ddyf and uddyf found in some texts for tangnefedd and ufudd;
M. W. cysact E. exact, cysam E. exam., mygej E. engaged,
mydroi for ymdroi, s-wigan tor chwysigen, sielf E. shovel, cwrcwd
for crwcwd E. crooked.
82. — Some exceptional cases of mutation in Br. which agree
with W.
a). Aspirate Mutation.
We have already seen above (§ 24) how Br. like Mod. W.,
besides adding an inital h after the possessive pronoun femi-
nine sing, to words beginning with a vowel, developed also
i. See Fed. I, p. 334, II, p. 300.
PARRY- WILLIAMS. — These. 8
H4 Parry - Williams
under similar conditions an /7-sound in the case of initial m
(in Br.), n, m, w (in W.), where ordinarily and according
to the fixed grammatical rules no such change would be
expected to appear. This peculiarity of Br. seems to appear
only in the dial, of Faouet (Haute-Cornouailles) for which
see R. C., 17, p. 421, and in W. mainly in the N. W. dial.
b). Nasal Mutation.
Neither Br. nor Cornish has a regular system of muta-
tion corresponding to the W. so-called Nasal Mutation. Occa-
sional cases of the same type, however, do occur in Br. (and
once, at least, in Cornish in yn nor from dor). These changes
in Br. are probably of a later date than those in the W.
Nasal Mutation. He form nor is, however, probably old, as
it is regarded as an old neuter.
i). Dental.
The folloving exs. of -n d > n are given in Fed. § 272 :
M. Br. an nou ethe two, both' ; en noar cin the earth' W.
yn naear ; an or for an nor 'the door' ; crochen an niuquell from
diuqttell, W. dwy gaill ; en ha parres in thy parish ; Mod. Br.
(Vann.) en eu, en iu 'the two, both (masc. and fern.)', en
eruen 'the oak-tree'. To these several other exs. may be
added, M. Br. (E.) hac a claf quen scaff han affuat 'et
tombant malades aussi vite qu'une brebis' with affuat for naf-
fuat from daffuat, W. dafad; an noulagat fthe two eyes' from
doulagat W. dan lygad ; in the Vann. dial, of Sarzeau unava-
dienn for un navadienn 'a sheep' from davadienn, see R. C.,
3, p. 47, where there are also mentioned men Dui 'my God'
and mem brer 'my brother', W. fy Nuw, fy mrawd, and the
Treg. conjugation of the verb en dout in the 3 and i Pers.
en eus, an eveus, en oa etc. (see Le Clerc § 96) ; un nerwenn
from derwenn W. derwen. Vann. has also un name^el from
dame%el Fr. demoiselle ; penn-na-benn for penn da benn, and
dinnann for dindann. In R. C., 7, p. 192 d'en nia^ fen bas'
with nia% from dia%. cf. unnek for un-dek 'eleven' .
According to M. Ernault, P^/z'te Grammaire Bretonne, p. 32,
Treg. has 'nen by the side of an den, W. y dyn\ see also Le
Clerc p. 134.
Similarity in the Phonology of Welsh and Breton 115
In the dial, of Cornouaille there occurs such a form as pen
ven nm cquand on est' (R. C., 3, p. 235).
2). Labial.
A trace of this is possibly in mem breur 'my brother' W.
fy mrawd, cited above (i). Cf. Treg. am mo, am mefe etc. for
am bo, am befe, Le Clerc pp. 73, 74.
3. Guttural.
L. Ch. (F.) inn gorto 'en attente', with the final n of inn
and the g of gorto forming a guttural nasal. The common
form of the preposition is en or e.
In a text in R. C., 7, p. 79 there occurs the sentence meng
gourbiemenow e gassehet, with meng gourhiemenow corresponding
to the W. fy nghorchymynion for fyn gorchymynion .
83. — Palatalisation of Consonants in W. and Br.
a). In Br. :
M, Ernault, Petite Grammaire Bretonne, p. 4, refers to the
palatalisation of k and g in the dial, of Treg. : 'Ce dialecte
peut donner a k, g, avant e et avant ou apres / une nuance
palatale (a peu pres comme dans le francais il acquiert, Tre-
guier) : &{& ou qiq viande, s'ecrit plus simplement kik; etc.'
Further, in the dial, of Vann. k, ch (before palatal vowels)
and s (before t) have a palatalised articulation, e. g. kfemeret
(kcmeret, W. cym(e)ryd), merhieti (W. merched), er hiemener
(Leon ar chemener 'the tailor', which would correspond to a
W. y cymynwr). See R. C., 3, p. 178.
In the Vann. dial, of Quiberon, in addition to the fact
that most consonants are palatalised before 'narrow' vowels,
there is also a palatalisation of n and r, e. g. moarieb (Leon
mocrch), carieg (Leon carreg or karreK), Gwiniet (W. Gwy-
nedd) In Vann. also sk before e, /, il becomes ch, as in chn-
giall == scudell. See R. C., 16, p. 323. In Br. s before a nar-
row vowel has become an sb sound in chetu for setu 'behold'.
The dentals d, t have become ch, j, before the plural ending
ion, as in hehchou plur. of hent (W. hynl), oajou plur. of oad
(W. oed). See Ernault, Petite Grammaire Bretonne, p. 17, and
1 1 6 Parry- Williams
Le Clerc, p. 37. Cf. also Treg. davancher 'devantier' and in
L. Ch. aparchiant rappartient', mecher 'metier5.
b). In W. :
W. seems to have developed the practice of palatalisation
even to a further degree than Br. It occurs before other than
palatal vowels, and, generally speaking, appears in all parts
of Wales in some position or other.
Among the older inhabitants of North Wales at the pre-
sent day it is customary to palatalise c and g even before a
non-palatal vowel, especially before a, e. g. bachgian (bach-
gen), rial (caeT), cids, (cds), cialh (cath), ciartra (cartref), gia-
fal (gafael), giard (E. guard), Morgian (Morgan). In Merio-
nethshire, where a is pronounced as an open e, forms like
cidth (cath), das (cds) are very common. Before a palatal
vowel we have N. W. cieirch (ceircti), cieffyl (ceffyf), cieir (plur.
of E. car), cienedl (cenedl), cieiniog (ceiniog). In parts of Mid-
Wales / and b tend to become palatalised before a as in biachu
(bachu), tiad (tad). In S. W. a palatalised d has become dsh
or dj, or even tsh, citsio or citsho (cydid), sgidje, or sgilshe (esgi-
diau), cf. jawl for diawl.
In Mid-Wales too r, n, /, m, are also palatalised even before
a, e. g. niage (nage), miab(mab) etc.; cf. M. W. ceirios (ceiros)
miawn (mewn, M. W. niywn, S. W. miwri), hiriaethu (hirae-
t!w).
dd, th,ff, ch are often palatalised in M. W., e. g. heiddiiw
(heddyiu), effieithio (effeithio), wedi i chidl hi (with chidl from.'
cidl for cael), iachiau (iachaii).
In S. W. s becomes sh before a consonant, e. g. ishte (eis-
teidd), gzuishgo (gwisgo\ dishgiul (disgwyt) wshgzud (ysgwyd) ;
and also before w in shwd (cf. N. W. sud or sui). The S. W.
sha and shag for tua, tuag may have arisen from S. W. forms
with i for N. W. w, tia and tiag thus giving sha, shag, cf.
shwnt for tu hiunt. In M. W. one hears beshantisho for be3 sy
arnat ei eisiau, and beshanti for be sy arnai ti. Cf. N. W. sio-
sar from E. saucer. In some E. loanwords in W. c and g are
palatalised. The palatalisation, now antiquated, was common
in E. itself at one period, and the W. forms may be due to
Similarity in I he Phonology of Welsh and Breton 117
this ; W. giard (E. guard), giaffar (E. dial, gaffer), giami (E.
dial, gammy), giamocs (E. dial, garnmocks), Margiad (E. Mar-
garet), minciag (E. mint-cake).
Ellis, E. E. P., p. 230, refers to this palatalisation in E. : fk
was k before all vowels, perhaps inclined to the palatalised k
before the sound of ii and in the 18 th. c. frequently became
k (palatalised) before a (le, aa) and long / (si)'. Further
on p. 263 : £It would be interesting to know when the English
began to introduce an /-sound between k, g and rt-sound.
There is no trace of it in the orthoepists, but these are traces
of it in a very early stage of our language'.
ERRATUM
On p. 105, 1. 14, read arllwys, petris.
MACON, PROTAT BROTHERS, PRINTERS
LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE E. CHAMPION, EDITEUR, 5, QUAI MALAQUAIS
Pour paraitre prochainement :
La Bretagne et les pays celtiques. — Manuel d'Irlandais moyen, par G. Dorrr
professeur a 1'Universite deRennes. 2 beaux volumes in- 12. Ensemble. . . 1?
I. — GRAMMAIRE. TABLE DES MATIERES. Chapitre I. PHONETIQUE ET ORTHOGRAPI
i. Rapports de 1'orthographe et dessons. — 2. Phonetique. — II. DE LA PHRASE. — i. S
tion des mots. — 2. Modification des sons dans la phrase. — III MORPHOLOGIE DES NO
1. Substantifs. — 2. Article. — 3. Adjectifs. — 4 Noms de nombres. — 5. Emploi des
6. Derivation et composition des noms. — IV. MORPHOLOGIE DES VERBES. — i . Generah
2. Temps et modes. — 3. Accent tonique des verbes. — 4. Les preverbes ro- do-,
5. Paradigmes des verbes irreguliers. — 6. Derivation et composition des verbes. — 7. Ad
— V. PRONOMS ET ADJECTJFS-PRONOMS. — Liste des principaux homonymes grammatica
VI. SYNTAXE. — i. Ordre des mots. — 2. Phrase nominale. — 3. Accord. — 4. Coordinat
5. Subordination. — 6. Concordance des temps. — 7. Emploi de 1'infinitif.
II. TEXTES ET GLOSSAIRE. Les difficultes qu'offre la grammaire irlandaise sont
lierement aplanies par 1'etude des textes. Apres une lecture rapide de la grammaire, 1'et
aura tout avantage a ne plusse servirde celle-ci que comme d'un livre de reference, et a se
aussitot a traduiredesmorceaux choisis. Pour lui faciliter la tache, de nombreuses notes exp]
les phrases difficiles ou precisent le sens des mots qui out un ou plusieurs homonymes. Le
saire, au lieu de relever seulement a 1'ordre alphabetique le nominatif singulier des nom:
premiere personne du present de 1'indicatif des verbes, contient tous les cas de la declina
toutes les personnes de tous lestempsde la conjugaison ; en sorte que le commencant n
pas arrete par 1'analyse grammaticale.
Pour les etudiants avances, on a ajoute un choix de variantes qui permettront 1'etude
rique de la langue, du xne au xvme siecle, et 1'aideront a se reconnaitre dans le fou
1'orthographe irlandaise.
Les textes ont etc, a dessein, tires d'un seul manuscrit, le Leabhar Breac, qui date de la
xive siecle, et dontle contcnu est presque exclusivement religieux. Les morceaux choisi:
ete groupes de maniere a donner une idee a la fois des traductions et imitations faites p
Irlandais de la litterature latine du moyen age, et des compositions plus originales, vies de t
ou visions qui outre leur valeur litteraire presentent quelque interet historique.
C'est ainsi qu'on trouvera dans ce recueil la Descente du Christ aux enfers, un fragmer
les neuf ordres des anges, la lutte de saint Paul et de Simon le Magicien, 1'enfance du Chr
passion del'Image du Christ, 1'histoire des Sept Dormants d'Ephese, 1'Antechrist, le Deb
corps et de 1'ame, qui appartiennent a la premiere serie ; et, d'autre part, des extraits des Vi
saint Patrice, saint Colum Chille, sainte Brigitte, saint CellachdeKillala; les visions d'Ada:-
abbe d'lona, la vision comihue du clerc Mac Conglinne, et de menues histoires de clercs
dais dont quelques-unes rappellent nos fabliaux.
DOTTIN (Georges), professeur adjoint a 1'Universite de Rennes. Contes et legei
d'Irlande, traduitsdu gaelique. 1901, in-8 3 f i
E. ERNAULT, professeur de 1'Universite. Petite Grammaire bretonne, avec
notions sur 1'histoire de la langue et sur la versification. 1897, in-i2, cart. . '.
- Glossaire moyen-breton. 2« edition corrigee et augmentee avec une prefa
les index du tome I des Etudes grammaticales sur les langues celtiques. 1895-1
i tome en 2 vol. , gr. in-8 31
LE BRAZ (Anatole). La legende de la mort chez les Bretons Armories
Troisieme edition refondue et augmentee (juillet 1912). Avec des notes su
croyances analogues chez les autres peuples celtiques, par Georges DOTTIN, pr<
seur a 1'Universite de Rennes. 2 forts volumes petit in-8, ensemble 1(
— Au pays d'exil de Chateaubriand. 1908, in-i2 3 fr
LOTH (J.), professeur a 1'Universite de Rennes. Vocabulaire vieux-breton
commentaire, contenant toutes les gloses en vieux-breton, gallois, cornique, ai
ricain connues. Precede d'une introduction sur la phonetique du vieux-bretc
sur 1'age et la provenance des gloses. 1884, gr. in-8 1C
— Remarques et corrections au lexicum cornu-britannicum de Williams, i
in-8 2
— L'annee celtitfue d'apres les textes irlandais, gallois, bretons et le calendrie
Colignv. 1904, in-8 3
— Les Noms des saints bretons. 1910, in-8 de 149 pages 3
- Les langues romane et bretonne en Armorique. 1909, in-8 2
- Contributions a 1'etude des romans de la Table ronde . Un volume i
avec une carte i
Tristan et Yseut, Le Cornwale et le roman de Tristan, etc. Identification de nombre
localites soi-disant legendaires ou se deroule le fameux cycle.
TOURNEUR (Victor). Le Mystere Breton de saint Crepin et de saint Crepin
1 906, in-8 5
Introduction [Etudes sur les sources]. Texte breton et traduction francaise.
MACON, PROTAT FRERES, IMPRIMEURS.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
PB Parry-Williams, Thomas Herbert
2128 Some points of similarity
P37 in the phonology of Welsh and
Breton
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